Everlasting Heliotrope
by Arialene
Summary: [Complete] Modern AU Fic. Jack and Elsa are in a car crash, and Jack is hurt pretty severely, causing him to be sedated while he recovers from his injuries. While Elsa waits at his bedside, remembering and recounting their first meeting and their courtship, Jack dreams of a wild adventure with winter powers, Guardians and talking Snowmen. Image: Alexvauzz (Tumblr)
1. Chapter 1

**_Heliotrope is a flower with the meaning of devotion or faithfulness._**

**_3 am plot bunny that hit me, considering the last one that hit me was Frostbitten, I decided to give it another go. Modern AU take on Frozen and RotG, hope you all enjoy. ~Aria._**

* * *

Elsa sat outside the surgery rooms in the tiny waiting room, bent over in the uncomfortable pastel colored chair as the television bolted to the wall above her droned on about the day's news. She didn't hear it, she stared down at her hands, clutched around the wad of tissues she held. Her eyes were red rimmed, tear tracks marking her face and small cuts marred her face and hands. A large white bandage was taped high over her right eye, a tiny line of blood showing through, another larger bandage was on her right forearm. Her cheery yellow top was dotted with blood stains and her form fitting jeans were torn in several places.

A door opened, her head snapped up quickly, hope shining in her eyes that quickly gave way to disappointment as a nurse gave a sorry look to her as she hurried through the waiting room to the other side, entering one of the other surgery rooms.

She sighed and leaned back, dabbing at her eyes with the tissues again, uncaring at her appearance. Her swollen belly came into view, she absently ran a hand across it, her gaze now staring at the closed surgery door with it's glaring red light above it stating "In Use."

It had all happened so fast, the events hours before now, it felt like days to her. They were heading home from a nice dinner together and shopping, more things for the baby safely tucked behind them in the car. Jack had been smiling and laughing as he always was, teasing her about the latest strange and obscure baby names he'd found online.

Then it had happened, the car coming towards them had crossed the center line. Everything had slowed down in those few moments. She'd seen Jack jerk the wheel around, known that he'd done it to protect her, to protect the baby, to take most of the hit for himself. The crash was so loud when it had happened. Elsa still heard it when she closed her eyes, still felt the airbags flying out to try and cushion her after the impact.

It had stunned her, the whole event had just stunned for a long moment before the panic set in. Not the pain of her own minor injuries, the panic of her husband in the seat next to her. He was unconscious and there was blood, so much blood. She'd screamed, not from the sight of the blood but from the sight of him just lying there, not moving. She'd been terrified he'd been killed. He'd moaned a little then, moving ever so slightly before slipping back into unconsciousness. She had reached a shaking hand over to him, setting it on his head.

Other motorists had stopped, her door had been jerked open and hands tried to pull her out. She turned and cursed, spat at them, ordering them to call for help, call for Jack. She was fine, couldn't they see that Jack was who needed the help? Sad eyes had looked back at her, their gazes darting between the driver and passenger seat, scared glances darting between her face and her belly.

Finally the sirens and lights heralded the call of help, a tall moustached man with salt and pepper hair had pulled her a few steps away, close enough that she could still see them frantically working on Jack. Her eyes glanced around, seeing policemen shouting and waving their arms at another man who was stumbling about before grabbing him, roughly turning him about and handcuffing him.

The paramedic dabbing a cloth on Elsa's forehead sighed sadly.

"Another drunk idiot," he murmured, causing Elsa to turn and look at him.

"What?"

The paramedic stopped, looking a little surprised and gestured towards the man being shoved roughly into the back of the police car with no visible injuries.

"The other driver, looks like he's completely hammered."

Elsa didn't feel the sting of the antiseptic when he poured it on the cut on her arm, all she could do was stare at the man in the backseat of the police car until he pulled away. How could he be so careless?

Her silent rage was interrupted by shouting of several other men as they pointed skyward, the loud whirring noise of a helicopter coming to her senses now. She watched as the metal bird landed in an empty field across the street from the road they were on, the doors sliding open and several people jumping out and running towards them.

"I need to go with him," she said, turning to the paramedic.

"What?" he said, pausing while tearing two pieces of tape.

She moved to yank her arm away.

"Please, my husband, I can't-I," she said, turning her head to look between the wrecked car that Jack was slowly and carefully being pulled from and the paramedic wrapping her arm in gauze and bandages.

The paramedic looked at her for a moment before nodding, securing the piece of tape.

"Hold this for me, I'm almost done."

"Thank you," she breathed, as he quickly moved to tape the rest of the bandage on.

He walked her over to the gurney they had laid Jack on, his whole body immobilized carefully with hard plastic, straps and covered with blankets to keep him warm against the shock of the accident. She felt them looking at her, she felt the tears threatening to break and sobbed a little, looking him up and down. Her hands hovered above him, not sure where she could touch him just to be able to touch him to know he was still with her.

"We need to go!" one of the small women in a flight suit said, grabbing the gurney and starting to move him towards the helicopter. Elsa ran alongside them, refusing to leave, glancing behind to see the older paramedic chatting quickly with a man in a matching flight suit, pointing at her. The man nodded and ran to catch up.

The gurney folded easily into the helicopter, the nurses and doctor moving around Jack with a practised ease of a flight crew in the tiny cramped space. The man the older paramedic had spoken with grabbed Elsa's arm as she went to climb in, pointing to a small seat at the very entrance to the helicopter.

"Sit there, and don't move. We have a lot of work to do on your husband," he said, helping to lift her into the helicopter as the blades whirred to life again. He scrambled in after her, pulling the door shut with a loud bang.

Elsa reached out and carefully touched Jack's blanket wrapped foot, hoping she could do that as medical orders and instructions were shouted out around her and the roar of the helicopter came to life and lifted off, carrying them to the hospital. Taking them to save Jack's life.

Elsa jumped in the waiting room, startling her from her horrid memory as the door banged open, her first glance went to the surgery door, hoping to see one of Jack's doctors emerging to give her good news. The other went to the entrance to the waiting room, where she saw, to her relief, Anna bustling across the room with her arms outstretched. Elsa stood quickly, tears beginning to pour from her eyes again.

"Oh Elsa," Anna said, worry and fear etched on her face. "I'm sorry it took us so long to get here, we had to wait for Kristoff's mother to arrive to watch the children, and you know how Bulda is."

Anna wrapped Elsa up in a tight hug.

"Any news yet?"

Elsa shook her head, tearing flowing down her cheeks.

"No, he's been in there for several hours now. They took him straight in there as soon as we got here too."

Anna moved to help Elsa sit back down on the hospital chairs.

"Have you eaten anything? I'm sure you've been up all night, it's almost 6 am."

Elsa shook her head.

"I'm not hungry."

Anna gave her a worried look.

"Elsa, it's not just you that you have to eat for though."

Elsa gave her a quick glance, sighing before turning back to look at the door, shaking her head.

"I can't leave, not right now. Not until I know he's alright."

* * *

They rushed Jack straight into surgery, the flight crew shouting the vitals and medical details to the hospital staff, nurses, doctors, anesthesiologists, pharmacists, and the flight crew all moving around in the strange careful dance around the operating table as they removed the straps and blankets from his body, shouted orders to transfer him from the moving gurney and backboard to the metal table. Tubes flew around him, IVs going in, another tube going down his throat for incubation to help him breath.

He had a long road ahead of him if he made it through tonight. And it would be a long night for him.

One of the doctors stepped up to his head, pulling his eyelids open and shining a small flashlight into his pupils.

"Jack? Jack Frost? Can you hear me?"

Jack moved a little, shifting his limbs slightly.

"Good, very good Jack. Stay with us here, okay? Keep fighting, Jack."

A needle was slipped into an IV and Jack's battered body slumped into unconsciousness as more orders were shouted around the room.

* * *

"Jack? Jack Frost" Can you hear me?" the Moon called to him. Jack startled awake, the winter spirit had been enjoying a nice long sleep, curled up in the branches of a tall pine tree.

"Yeah," he said, yawning and rubbing his eyes. How long had he been asleep, wiping the snow off of his pants, shaking his sweatshirt a little.

"Good, very good Jack. Stay with us here, okay? Keep fighting Jack," the Moon said, his light shining very brightly for Jack before dimming.

Keep fighting? Keep fighting what? Pitch? They had defeated Pitch months ago, had he already rebounded his power? And stay where? Where was he? He couldn't remember anything anything. Maybe Jack had slept longer than he thought he had.

"Moon!" Jack shouted, scooping up his staff and shooting out of the top of the tree he had been laying in. "What do you mean Moon?"

He received no answer. Jack gave a frustrated groan, running a hand through his hair and looked around. He couldn't leave? He couldn't run to the North Pole to check with the others to see what was going on? It would make things so much easier if he could, but he didn't want to risk something happening if he did. Swallowing, he looked around and spied the spiraling trails of woodsmoke in winter and sped off towards them. If anything, this was what he needed to protect, grinning slightly as the small port kingdom came into his view, the large palace nestled back behind it, surrounded by snow. This looked like his kind of place.

* * *

Elsa stared at her hands again, her fingers working over her wedding band. More long hours had passed, Anna practically forcing her to eat the apple and carrots that Kristoff had found for sale at the tiny food cart down the hall. She likely would have refused if not for the baby, the food had tasted like ash in her mouth.

Finally, the door to the surgery room had opened, a tired looking white haired man stepping out. Elsa all but ran to him, her hands clenched together as she looked up at him.

"Jack? How is he? Is he okay?"

The man sighed and nodded.

Elsa exhaled, feeling the tight fist around her heart that had been there since the accident loosen slightly.

"He is stable," the doctor said in a heavy Eastern European accent. "But still in serious condition. We have him sedated, in a coma-like state while he is on the respirator."

"Respirator?" Anna whispered behind Elsa.

The doctor nodded. "Jack has a lot of injuries, we are trying to help his body as much as we can. By helping him breathe, it lets his body concentrate on healing other things. I can let you see him for a minute before we take him upstairs to ICU if you'd like, Mrs. Frost."

Elsa nodded quickly. "Yes, please, yes."

The doctor smiled at her, taking her left arm and turning to lead her back into the surgery room.

"This is going to be a long process," he said, turning her once they entered into a prep room where he helped her into a gown, mask and gloves.

"Jack was injured pretty severely, some of us weren't sure he would make it. A less healthy man likely would not have, he's very lucky."

Elsa swallowed, nodding as she slipped on the latex gloves, taking a deep breath.

"Jack is strong, he will make it."

The doctor's eyes crinkled up in a smile over his own mask and he nodded, pushing the next door open to the surgery room. Elsa walked inside, paused and then hurried over to the table where Jack was laid out. His chest was bare, a sheet and blanket pulled up over his stomach. Wires and tubes were connected to his arms and chest that led back to poles and machines that were steadily humming and beeping in various rhythms. The steady rise and fall of his chest was helped by the blue tubes leading to another machine, that foretold each breath with it's own gasp of air.

She picked up his hand, careful of the tubes leading into his veins and stroked it.

"Oh Jack," she said softly. "What mess have you gotten into this time."


	2. Chapter 2

**_Well then, seeing as this has been well received so far I should make some comments to give a little context._**

**_My family has a fairly extensive medical background. The paramedic from the last chapter, the one that helped Elsa? Yeah, that's modeled after my dad who is still a EMT/Paramedic today. When you see me recounting Jack's injuries in this chapter, I literally went to him and said "Hey dad, I'm writing this story, this is what happened, what injuries would he have?" My mom and about 1/3 of my family are nurses, so I know how hospitals work from some personal knowledge. Now, this isn't to say this is how ALL hospitals work, this is just how my little slice of the world has panned out. The names that you will see, aside from the obvious ones (you'll see what I mean) are mostly people that I know, or have known (working in doctor offices will do that to you). So that's where my research for this story will come in._**

**_Some notes about the car accident itself. Jack and Elsa's car was going about 45 mph, the drunk driver was going around 50 mph and hit Jack and Elsa's car on the driver's side at about the driver's side wheel well area. My father assured me that he has been on many ambulance runs over the years with drunk drivers where they have been going faster than that and walked away with little more than a scratch, so it's not a foreign idea that I put forward._**

**_Any questions, feel free to ask in the comments or PM me!_**

**_~Aria_**

* * *

Elsa stood silently by Jack's side for a long moment, more tears threatening to break over her eyes as she looked down at him as a nurse bustled around his head. She felt the doctor's hand on her shoulder and reluctantly released his hand, turning to look up at him.

"We have him sedated, so he isn't in pain. They are going to work on moving him to his room in the ICU right now," the doctor said, gesturing to the beige scrubbed men coming into the room with a large hospital bed, another nurse leading the way. "Let us let them move him, I'll take you up there in a little bit. It will take some time, I'll tell you what all we did in the mean time."

She nodded, stepping forward again and bending to press a kiss to Jack's bare fingers, squeezing them as the machine helping him breathe wheezed and puffed on his other side. Elsa took a shaky breath and slowly followed the doctor from the room, pulling the gown, mask and gloves off and into the metal bin he indicated. He shed his own gown, standing in blue scrubs of his own with a name tag turned around, a blue "MD" tag hanging from the bottom.

He held the door open for her to the waiting room, smiling as she hurried out to join her sister who glanced up with an anxious look.

"He's sedated," Elsa said, turning to look back at the doctor. "I don't know much more than that."

The doctor nodded.

"There is a small room over here where we can talk privately," he said, his long stride leading ahead of them down a hall a few steps before gesturing to an open door. A bronze plate on the door was labeled "Quiet Room."

"Thank you, Doctor..." Anna said, trailing off as she tried to read his name badge.

The doctor smiled, following them into the room as Kristoff hurried in behind them with several bags and purses in his arms. The police had come to the hospital several hours after Jack had gone into surgery and found Elsa, returning her purse that they had found in their ruined car and gotten some information her. She had passed on Anna's cell number, asking them to call her if they needed more information in the next few days, not sure she would be in a state to give much information.

"Sorry, I should have introduced myself. I am Dr. Polnockiewicz," he said, his accent becoming deeper and more fluid as his last name rolled off his tongue.

"What?" Kristoff said, looking up from his hunched position as he was setting things down beside a chair. Anna and Elsa were settling down onto a small couch, holding hands.

Dr. Polnockiewicz chuckled.

"I get that a lot," he admitted. "Call me Dr. North, it's what Polnoc means in Polish."

"You're Polish?" Anna asked.

"My grandfather was, grandmother and mother were Russian. But, that is for another time I think," Dr. North said, smiling softly at Elsa.

Elsa took in a deep breath and nodded. Dr. North, who was still standing, turned and walked to the door, pulling it slightly to detach it from the magnets holding it open. As the door slowly closed, he turned and walked back into the room, choosing a seat to face the small group. Anna still held Elsa's hand, her other hand rubbing Elsa's arm in a comforting gesture.

"Alrighty," Dr. North began, leaning down on his knees and bringing his hands together. "As I said before, Mrs. Frost, your husband has a lot of injuries but he is out of the danger zone. We have him classified in serious but stable condition, he is on a ventilator to help him breathe. When he came in, he had a collapsed lung which was fixed but the ventilator will also help his body concentrate on healing all of the other things."

Elsa dug in her pocket, looking for her wad of tissues. Dr. North paused, leaning back to grab the box from the windowsill and passed it over to her. She took it with a murmur of thanks, pulling several out of the box before setting the rest down beside her.

"He has a concussion, whiplash, as well as neck and spinal strain on his vertebrae. There are lacerations of varying degrees on his face, arms and abdominal areas from the glass shattering. We had to remove his spleen, so before he leaves the hospital he will need to have a brief talk with the dietary department but that is a ways down the road. His spleen had a major laceration and partial rupture to it, we decided it would be easier on him to just remove it."

Dr. North paused, looking at Elsa who nodded, tissues held under her nose as she listened.

"I will be working with Jack through this process, as well as his orthopedic doctor, you will meet him later. He had another surgery to attend to. Jack has multiple fractures throughout his body. Several ribs are either partially or completely fractured, the femur is fractured as well as the lower leg."

"Jesus," Kristoff whispered from his chair, his eyes wide as he listened to the list of injuries.

Elsa sobbed a little, bending forward in her seat.

"What is next?" Anna said, rubbing her hand over Elsa's back.

"Well," Dr. North began. "There is obviously a lot of bruising too, lots of body parts are banged up and bruised from all of this, so the body is trying to heal a little bit of everything at once. So, for now, we keep him sedated and we keep him on pain medication to keep him comfortable. I will be monitoring his labs and progress, we will be checking all of his outputs for infection. I will warn you, tomorrow and the next day is when the bruising will really become evident. It doesn't necessarily mean that he is getting worse, just means that the extent of some of the damage is showing."

Elsa took a long deep breath, Anna hugged her shoulders.

"But," Dr. North continued. "He has a very good outlook. His heart is still very strong, his vitals never wavered throughout the surgery and he is in good health. It's going to be a long road ahead of him, but he will be just fine."

"When do you think he will be able to wake up?" Kristoff asked.

Dr. North sighed.

"Next week? I can't give a definite time range until I see some lab work unfortunately. It's different from patient to patient. We keep patients sedated while they are on the ventilators, it's frightening to wake up and have the tubes down their throats. In a few days, we will try to see how he breathes on his own and we can re-evaluate from there."

Silence descended on the small room, punctuated by small sniffles from Elsa and the movement of the tissues under her nose and eyes. Dr. North leaned forward and carefully patted her knee, causing her to smile at him through her tears.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm trying to be strong for him."

"You are doing a good job," he told her. "But you also need to be strong for your little one too. How far along are you?"

Elsa swallowed, leaning back a little bit.

"Four months yesterday, we had," she paused, swallowing hard again. "We had gone out tonight for things for the baby."

Dr. North smiled at her.

"I heard you gave our OB/GYN hell earlier for wanting to admit you to your own room."

Elsa blushed a little, shifting in her seat.

"I told her I was fine, just banged up a bit. I wanted to be down here when you were done with Jack."

He patted her knee again, standing up.

"You are quite the devoted one, Mrs. Frost. Just remember it's not just your husband you need to worry about in these next weeks, it's that little one as well. I will find out what room they are taking Mr. Frost to and send someone down to get you when he is settled. It will probably take a little time, so just settle in for now."

He walked out of the room, pulling up on the door pull and slipping out, the hospital's busy sounds leaking into the room before the door slowly slid back into place again. Kristoff exhaled deeply, leaning back in his chair and looking over at the sisters huddled together on the couch.

"Now what?" he asked softly.

Elsa looked up, biting her lip.

"I need to call his mom," she replied, looking at the faded floral wall print hung before her. "I don't know what I'm going to tell her."

"Diane?" Anna asked. "She and Pippa live up in Connecticut right?"

Elsa nodded.

"I was waiting to call until I knew more, she's going to want details."

She turned and glanced at her purse on the ground beside Kristoff, sighing. She wasn't sure she could relate everything that happened to her mother-in-law just yet, not while her own head was still reeling from the events herself.

"I'll call her," Kristoff said, smiling at her.

She blinked up at him.

"What?"

"I'll call her for you, you are barely holding yourself together right now. I know what is going on, I can tell her for you."

Elsa looked at him for a long moment before giving him a small smile and nodding.

"Thank you," she said.

He smiled at her, sliding her purse forward on the ground, picking it up and holding it out for her. She stuck her hand inside, moving around inside for a moment before extracting her phone, sighing a little in relief to see it wasn't broken before pressing the button to let the screen light up. Her thumb clicked around on the screen a few times, bringing up the contact for Diane Frost before she handed the phone back to Kristoff.

"Thank you," she said again as he took the phone from her, standing to step into the hall. He nodded, tapping the screen and holding the phone up to his ear.

"I need to call the embassy too," she said, looking at Anna. "Tell them I'm going to be gone for awhile, at least until Jack is conscious again. I'm not even entirely sure what hospital they took us to."

Anna smiled at her, squeezing her hand again.

"Johns Hopkins, the main campus, up in Baltimore. I had to call admitting for here and George Washington down in D.C. to find out where you were after you called me."

Elsa sighed.

"Sorry about that, my mind wasn't working very well."

Anna hugged her.

"I'll call the embassy, let them know what happened. I'm sure they will understand."

Anna stood, pulling her own phone from her pocket and began pulling up the number to Elsa's office at the embassy. As Anna began talking, the smooth flow of Norwegian conversation flowing between her and the person on the other end of the phone, Elsa leaned back, thankful for having her sister and brother-in-law live so close right now.

* * *

She began thinking back to when her parents had first moved them to America years before. Her father had been granted the position of Ambassador at the Norwegian Embassy in Washington D.C., he'd been home in the parlor that day when Elsa and Anna had come home from school. Their mother could barely contain her excitement as he told them, Anna had been excited too.

"We will be moving as soon as you finish this year of school," their father had concluded.

Elsa had felt her stomach sink, that was just a few weeks away. She'd been looking forward to spending the summer before her last year of upper secondary school before university with her friends, all of them still undecided in what they wanted to do when they got there. They all had plans of rooming together, sharing apartments and cooking meals together.

Anna was excited, she had just finished lower secondary school and was just about to enter into upper secondary school. Excited for the new friends she'd make, the new adventures she'd find so the thought of just doing that in America didn't phase her as much.

"It will be fun," her mother had said, smiling at her.

Elsa had smiled back, nodding and turned to take her books up to her room. It wasn't what she had hoped to hear when her father had said he might have big news on the horizon.

The next weeks had gone by quickly, with school finishing up, exams and packing in the evening. The embassy had sent several people over at different times, once a lady had come with a binder of house listings, sitting with her parents in the parlor for several hours as they went over each of the perks and flaws of each real estate listing.

When her mother had enthusiastically brought the plastic wrapped sheet of paper up for Anna and Elsa to look at, Elsa had done her best to look excited, but was sad to be leaving her current home. She liked where she lived, the old 19th century house with the small secret passage between her and Anna's room that they used to hide chocolates in when they were little. Where the shutters banged hauntingly on windy nights, causing the sisters to huddle together in bed and make up ghost stories about what might be causing the noise, other than the wind. This house had character, lots of it. She didn't want to leave it for some modern monstrosity in America, some 30 year old house that the Americans claimed to be old.

Then the movers came, carefully boxing and crating up their possessions in brown paper and sticky tape. Elsa watched from an upper window, a few of her most treasured childhood possessions laying in an open suitcase behind her. She didn't care if Anna teased her about carrying her small blanket and stuffed bunny rabbit with her, only she was going to transport them to their new home.

Their last night in Oslo they stayed with her grandparents, promises of visits, phone calls and postcards flowed around the table with the food and wine. Elsa did her best to participate, smiling and laughing at her grandpapa's silly jokes but she was already homesick.

They had arrived at the airport the next morning, suitcases all in a jumble as they unloaded them from the large taxi, her father working with his wallet to pay the driver in the krones he had not yet exchanged into dollars.

"Helene!" a female voice shouted, causing Elsa's mother to turn around, smile and wave.

"Oh hello Bulda," Helene said, as the short round woman bustled over to their suitcase pile on the sidewalk. "You both ready to go?"

Behind Bulda, a tall, blonde teenage boy pushed a cart also laden with suitcases and carry-on bags. The boy stopped the cart, leaning down on the bags and peering around to see the family.

"Girls, you remember Bulda, your father's secretary? He'd be lost without her," Helene asked, wrapping an arm around Elsa's shoulders and bringing her forward. Anna had already bounced forward to smile at Bulda. Bulda laughed, her shoulders bouncing.

"Well, I do my best to keep old Otto going on schedule. I think it's because we've been working together so long that he just didn't want to leave me behind," Bulda said, still smiling. She gestured behind her at the boy pushing the cart. "You remember my son, Kristoff?"

About to say something, her father appeared behind them, the taxi pulling away from the curb.

"Right," he said. "Let's get a cart and get inside. Best to not be late for our flight, a great new adventure awaits us! Are we on schedule Bulda?"

Bulda let out a bark of laughter.

"Like I would let you fall behind schedule," she replied, gesturing for Kristoff to follow behind the girls. "You trust me with your timetables for a reason."

Otto scooped up suitcases, tucking one under each arm and hurried forward. Elsa gave a half smile to Bulda, turning to pick up her own suitcases and shuffle behind her father to the row of carts lined up outside of the airport. The whole group, Elsa and her family, Bulda and her son were off to America.

* * *

"Elsa?" Kristoff said, putting an arm on her shoulder, jolting her from her memory. She smiled up at him with a slightly guilty look on her face.

"Sorry, guess I spaced out a little bit."

He gave her a slightly guilty look, holding up her phone.

"It's Diane, I told her what happened, she just wants to talk to you real fast."

Elsa swallowed and nodded, sitting up straighter on the sofa and holding her hand out for the phone. Kristoff gave her a guilty look, letting the phone slide from his hand and stepping back, walking back to Anna.

Elsa closed her eyes, bringing her hand up to rest on her forehead, wincing as it touched the sore bruised skin.

"Hi Diane," she said, trying to sound calm and bracing herself for hysterics.

"Elsa," came the teary voice on the other end. "How are you doing? Are you okay?"

Elsa was stunned for a moment, blinking before shakily replying.

"Ye-yes, I'm fine. A little banged up, a few cuts, bruises and a burn from the airbag but I'm okay. The baby is fine too."

"Good, good," Diane said, letting out a small sigh of relief. "The young man I was talking to, Chris?"

"Kristoff," Elsa replied.

"Yes, he told me about what happened with-with Jack," she said, pausing as her voice cracked. Elsa bit her own lip trying not to cry. She heard Diane take a deep breath on the other end of the phone.

"I just wanted to see if you were doing okay, from what he says your sister is there with you. Pippa and I will be down as soon as I can get a flight, she's looking on the computer now."

Elsa nodded with the phone, forgetting at the moment that she couldn't see her.

"Okay, that sounds good," she said, not really knowing what else to say. She handed the phone back up to Kristoff, unsure of what else to tell Diana right now. Kristoff smiled back down at her, quickly putting the phone up to his ear and taking the conversation back over with ease.

Anna came back over to her, sitting down and grabbing her hand.

"I talked to your boss, she said you have the rest of the week off, and next week. You're supposed to call next Friday and give them an update. I guess you have a bunch of time off saved up so they are just going to use that for right now."

Elsa nodded, giving Anna a small smile.

"Thanks Anna."

They looked up as a brunette nurse with glasses knocked on the door, giving them a friendly smile. Kristoff quickly rattled off the name of the hospital and said he would call Diane back in a bit with more information when he knew it and pressed the button to end the call. Elsa stood, her hands wringing together while she waited to hear what the nurse said.

"Mrs. Frost?" the nurse asked, looking between Elsa and Anna.

"Yes?" Elsa said, taking another step forward.

"Jack is all settled in his room, Dr. North said I should come down here and take you up to see him."

Elsa nodded, looking quickly at Anna and Kristoff who moved forward to scoop up their assorted bags while Elsa strode forward to hold open the door. They moved quickly through the halls, twisting and turning and taking an elevator before finally coming onto the floor where Elsa saw Jack's name written in big black letters on a white board. More information for the nurses and doctors was scrawled next to it; nurse and doctor names, phone numbers, orders and dietary restrictions.

The nurse led them around the circular nurses station before gesturing to one of the rooms with the blue curtain inside pulled half closed. Elsa stepped inside, pushing the curtain back a little bit and hurrying over to Jack's side. She heard Anna take a deep intake of breath behind her as she saw Jack lain out on the hospital bed. There was another nurse inside, sitting at a small table and typing at a computer who looked up and smiled at Elsa as she rushed in. She had on purple pants and a wildly colorful print top, with purples, blues and greens. She wore little hummingbird earrings that dangled down her neck, her almond shaped eyes were accented with more purple and green eyeshadows. Her long dark hair was pulled back into a tail.

"You must be Mrs. Frost," she said.

Elsa nodded, turning to give the nurse a quick forced smile before turning back to Jack, leaning over to smooth a white-blonde lock out of his face. She carefully worked her hand into his, mindful of the tubes and wires feeding into the top of his hand and arm. Anna and Kristoff worked their way into the room, standing at the foot of the bed, looking up at Jack's prone form.

"I'm Mari," she continued. "I'm Jack's nurse for today. But-"

She was cut off as another nurse poked his head into the room.

"Tooth, your ortho called to say he's on the way up."

"Thanks Sam," she called out, turning to smile to the others, blushing a little. "They like to call me "Tooth" because I was a dental assistant before I got my RN."

Her watch beeped a few times, she moved her hand to silence the alarm and stepped up from the chair she had coiled herself down into. She was a small woman, moving with a fluid grace as she stepped to the tall white cabinet in the corner of the room and punched in buttons then slid a card that she removed from her pocket. She removed a small syringe from a tray before closing the drawers and stepped back over to her computer, clicking the mouse a few times and then scanning the small barcode on the syringe.

One of Jack's leg's shifted on the bed, causing Elsa to look down at it.

"I know honey," Mari muttered behind her. "I'm hurrying. They were a little off with their timing on when they gave you your dose it seems, but I'll get you sorted."

She rushed out of the room as Jack shifted on the bed again, his hand clenching and causing one of the machines to beep angrily at him. Mari hurried back into the room a few moments later, a vial in her hands in addition to the syringe she had taken from the cabinet.

"Okay, Jack, let's get you comfortable again," she said, stepping quickly behind Anna and Kristoff to Jack's free side and deftly unscrewing a tube, fitting the syringe to it and slowly depressing the medicine into him.

"This is morphine," she said, looking up briefly at Elsa who was watching her. "We keep him on a schedule of it for the first week or so, the other one is just a sedative. We don't want him waking up and yanking those tubes out of his throat."

She removed the spent vial of pain medicine, setting aside on the bedclothes and picked up the vial she had set aside, pulling another syringe from her pocket, this one vacuum wrapped in plastic that she quickly unwrapped, measured out the correct dose and administered. After a few moments, Jack's movements settled down and the angry beeping of the machines stopped. Mari tapped a few buttons on the machine, frowning at one before it started giving the read out that she was looking for.

"These machines make a lot of beeps," she warned. "Most of them are pretty harmless, but I'll be in to check them regardless. Don't panic when they go off, okay?"

She gave the group a smile, looking up at another knock at the door. A small, middle-aged Filipino man walked in, dressed nicely in dress pants, collared shirt and a tie, his mostly grey hair styled carefully. Mari smiled at him, slipping past and out of the room. He gave her a smile and stepped forward.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Layug," he said, holding his hand out to Elsa. "I'm Jack's Orthopedic Surgeon."

He pronounced his last name lie-oog, his voice surprisingly deep for his small size.

"I'll be working with Dr. North to help Jack recover, I think he might have already told you about the various injuries Jack sustained?"

Elsa nodded, looking back down at Jack.

"Okay, I'm going to be helping him with the recovery of all of his fractures throughout all of this, which will probably take the longest," he said, his voice trailing off for Elsa as she gripped Jack's hand tighter.

He'd get through this, they would get through this together. Better or worse, sickness and in health, she'd made a vow and she planned on keeping every last word of it.


	3. Chapter 3

**_So, quick recap/summary of the RotG/Frozen characters that I have translated into this story. And no, in the modern version, no one has any powers, but in Jack's coma/sedated dreams they will._**

**_Anna, Kristoff, Elsa and Jack obviously appearing as they are._**

**_Dr. Polnockiewicz/ Dr. North = North/Santa_**

**_Mari = Tooth Fairy_**

**_Bulda = Kristoff's mom/Otto's Secretary_**

**_Otto = King (found it on the Disney wiki for the movie)_**

**_Helene = Queen (was unnamed in movie, couldn't find a name so I chose one)_**

**_Diane = Jack's mom (ditto)_**

**_Pippa = Jack's sister (Was actually the name of one of Jamie's friends in the movie, but same voice actress did Jack's sister, so we're going with Pippa for Jack's sister's name)_**

**_Sandman and Bunny haven't appeared yet, nor have Sven and Olaf. Pitch will appear but in a little more subtle way._**

**_Also, when I was researching Jack's injuries, one of the things I looked at was a anti-texting while driving commercial. These injuries are real for what would happen to someone in an accident like this, so PLEASE keep that in mind while you are behind the wheel. I haven't dramatised this, I've actually downplayed it a little as Elsa should be in worse shape than she is but we are going to just say that their car had some really good airbags for her. Please be mindful on the road!_**

* * *

Jack shook his head, trying to clear the strange fog that kept invading his mind as he flew towards the port city. The city seemed to maintain it's distance as he flew, frustrating him as that infuriating fog kept pressing against him. Twice he felt like he was falling from the sky, working hard to keep his balance in the sky. He hadn't felt this inept with his powers since the Moon had first given them to him all those years ago. He cursed under his breath, gripping the staff in both of his hands now and worked hard at getting to that city. He knew that was where he needed to go, he wasn't entirely sure how he knew, but some part of him just screamed at him that he needed to be there.

He felt his blood run cold, causing him to pause in his flight and whip his head around, his eyes searching the area as a familiar, sinister chuckle swept around him.

"Pitch," he whispered.

There were no shadows, no dark sand or more whispers of the dark figure around him. Jack searched with his eyes for long moments, carefully turning in his held position in the air before his eyes landed on the city again. He set his jaw and began to fly again. He needed to get there.

* * *

Elsa quickly realized what Mari had meant by the machines beeping, she was glad they had Jack sedated or he wouldn't have gotten any sleep. True to her word, Mari came into the room with each alert and alarm, smiling at the worried Elsa who looked slightly panicked at each mishap. There were bags of fluids, bags of medicines for his spleen removal, small bags with antibiotics to try and help stave off infection and the machines cried out for any small change in the normal flow, such as a tiny air bubble in the line or if one of the cords had been shifted just right (or wrong) as Mari worked to give Jack his pain medicine.

Jack's wrists had also been bound with cloth straps and tied to the sides of the bed, this had puzzled Elsa. Mari had calmly explained it was to prevent him from trying to unconsciously pull out the ventilator tubing from his mouth.

"The body knows it's not supposed to be there, so even asleep it wants to pull it out," she had said, placing a strange looking boot on his right foot. "This is to try and help prevent blood clots, and muscle cramping."

Elsa already loved Mari, the small woman calmly explained what was being done to Jack as she was sure her own frantic expression watched the nurse's every move. Elsa was surprised how quickly the day passed to, with Kristoff and Anna leaving for a time to take a meal down in the cafeteria. Elsa had refused to go with them, not wanting to leave Jack's side. They had returned with styrofoam boxes of food that she had choked down at their insistence, hardly tasting the bland cuisine.

The sun had sunk low in the sky, the song of night singing out in the cool October air when she noticed Anna and Kristoff's heads bent low together. Anna looked up, a guilty expression on her face.

"Elsa," she said, standing and walking over to kneel beside her sister, taking the hand Elsa didn't have holding Jack's. "We're going to go home, and check on the girls, give Bulda a rest. You should go home too, get some sleep. I'll be back in the morning."

Elsa nodded at her.

"Yeah, yeah, you guys go. I'll be fine," she said, giving her best smile to them both. "Give the girls my love."

Anna gave her a smile, squeezing her hand.

"I'll see you in the morning, okay? Get some sleep yourself."

Elsa nodded again, watching as Kristoff gathered their things and gently leading Anna from the room. They spoke their farewells to Mari as she bustled into the room carrying a small yellow plastic tub, smiling at her as always.

"I'm surprised you haven't gone home yet," Elsa commented, watching as she set the plastic tub on the counter and turned to look at her.

Mari chuckled. "Soon! The night shift is arriving now, turnover is in a few minutes. I wanted to come get you fixed up before I go to evening report."

"Me?"

Mari gave her a pointed look, pulling the chair for the computer out with a foot and gesturing for her to come sit down.

"You barely stayed long enough downstairs for them to check on you and the baby, I can see that your dressing needs to be changed. Come, sit, let me take care of it."

Elsa blushed a little bit, carefully extracting her hand from Jack's and stepped around the large bed to Mari's chair.

"You look tired," Mari commented, picking up Elsa's arm and beginning to unwrap the bandage.

Elsa smiled at her. "A little," she admitted.

"You should get some sleep, go home and come back in the morning."

Elsa shook her head. "I don't want to leave him."

Mari didn't respond, switched her concentration to undressing the bandages, giving a soft whistle at the burn on Elsa's arm.

"Airbags can leave some nasty burns," Mari said, carefully setting her arm down and pulling a towel and antiseptic from the tub. She placed the towel under Elsa's arm before pouring the liquid over it, Elsa hissed a little as the medicine worked into her skin.

"Sorry," Mari muttered, dabbing a piece of gauze over the wound. "All things considered you're very lucky. Minor cuts, some impressive bruises, this and that gash on your forehead?"

"It's because he turned the car," Elsa replied softly, turning to look at Jack.

Mari gripped her shoulder. "He sounds like a good man, I'm sure I'll like talking to him once we get him off that ventilator."

They were silent as Mari finished redressing the burn on Elsa's arm, and then worked on the gash on her forehead. Elsa closed her eyes, letting her mind space out for a long moment while the other woman worked.

"So where are you from?" Mari asked, dabbing an ointment on her forehead.

"Norway originally," Elsa replied, keeping her eyes closed. "But we live north of D.C., in Silver Spring."

"Norway, huh?" Mari said, sounding curious as she laid a gauze pad on the gash. "I bet you laugh at us in the winter then."

Elsa couldn't help but smile at that.

"I work for the Norway Embassy in D.C., it may come up a time or two."

Mari snorted. "I hate the cold, give me summer any day."

"Jack is from Connecticut, we both love winter," Elsa said with a smile.

Mari finished, stepping back to look at her handiwork.

"Not too bad, if I do say so myself. I need to go for report, I'll be back soon with whomever is going to be the night nurse though."

Elsa nodded, standing to go back to her chair, curling her leg under her and sliding her hand under his. She smiled, remembering her childhood home and how she had come to be in America.

* * *

They had made it into the busy airport, suitcases and all, and up to the counter where Bulda had stood at the front of the group with a stack of passports, tickets and other papers inside a carefully organized leather zippered binder. She'd spoken quickly with the agent, occasionally turning to call one member of the group forward or grabbing a suitcase and setting in the bay where the agent slid a stickered tag onto the handle, sending the luggage away.

Once done at the ticket counter, their backpacks for the plane slung over their shoulders and other carry-on items sitting at their feet, Bulda led the way to the security line, her small, round frame parting the crowd ahead of them. Once in the line, she quickly moved to hand out their passports, their tickets tucked carefully inside the front cover.

Helene sighed.

"Bulda, I love it when you come on these trips with us. You make it so easy," she said, smiling gratefully at the other woman. Otto nodded in agreement, flipping through the heavily stamped pages of his own passport.

"I'm going to have to get a new one soon," he said with a grin, showing the stamped pages to Anna who grinned up at him.

Elsa's own passport was brand new, about to receive it's first stamp. If she was allowed her way, she'd never leave Norway. Everything she could ever want was here.

The line moved quickly as they shuffled to the front. Then they were removing shoes, setting bags into bins and carefully stepping through fancy machines while the workers watched screens carefully, watched them carefully for any suspicious activity. Elsa hadn't been surprised, with the attacks on the American towers a couple years ago, everyone was still on high alert for any inordinate activity.

Then Bulda was leading them again to their gate, down long wide corridors filled with people: some running, some walking, some on phones and some laughing with their companions. The group shuffled along in a silent row, punctuated only by Helene and Bulda chatting to each other at the front. They arrived at their gate, the large blue colored plane sitting proudly in front of the glass, the strange metal and heavy canvas walkway attached to it that would allow the passengers to board.

Bulda walked up and spoke to the man at the counter, gesturing behind her briefly as she spoke. Elsa smiled at her, realizing that Bulda was a woman of many words and even more hand gestures. Bulda walked back a moment later, a smile on her face.

"Ah, I love it when I time things perfectly. It's like a puzzle fitting into place the first time you try it," she said, a self satisfied smile on her face. "We can board now, they are just getting ready to let first class pre-board."

They moved forward as the garbled announcement came overhead for the boarding announcement, a different airline agent taking standing at a small counter that scanned their tickets as they stepped into the mouth of the walkway, down the ramp and into the cramped confines of the plane. A steward on the plane showed them to their seats, gesturing to a section of six dark blue seats with high curved backs in the forward section.

Her father stepped forward to the first most row, sliding his small suitcase above before settling next to the window with his briefcase.

"Bulda," he called. "I want to discuss things on the flight." He gestured to the seat next to him.

Beside Elsa, her mother sighed. Otto was known for being a bit of a workaholic at times, it seemed this would be no different. Helene sat in the aisle seat behind her husband, angling herself to pinch him should he get too out of hand. Anna bounced into the aisle seat behind her mother, smiling out the window and leaning forward to try and see around.

Elsa paused, looking at Kristoff and at the two seats left available; the aisle seat next to Anna, or the window seat next to Helene. Elsa sighed, taking pity on the younger boy and gestured for him to take the seat next to Anna, he would be uncomfortable enough on the 11 hour flight, might as well give him the more entertaining seatmate.

Elsa slid her small case above her and stepped over her mother's legs, setting her bag beside her and getting settled for the long flight. She looked out the window, at the airport landscape of Norway and sighed.

* * *

A knock sounded on the door, startling Elsa from her daydream.

"Sorry," Mari said, stepping forward with a small, stocky sandy haired man.

Where Mari's outfit was bright and colorful, the man's was neutral and calm with khaki colored pants and a blue top with a subtle cream colored pattern. A badge hung proudly from his right breast pocket with various credential badges and pins, the name displayed was "S. Anderson."

"Elsa?" Mari said as they reached the bedside. "This is Shane. He's going to be Jack's night nurse tonight."

The man smiled, bowing his head slightly but didn't say anything.

"Hello," she responded, moving her hand up to cover her mouth as she yawned. "Sorry."

"Oh honey, you really should go get some sleep," Mari said, looking at her with big pleading eyes. "You've been here so long, you need some good rest."

Elsa shook her head. "I'll sleep here, I've slept in worse places."

Mari exchanged looks with Shane and shook her head.

"We will be back in a little bit, we are finishing up the turnover."

Elsa nodded as they left the room, she smiled up at Jack's sleeping form.

"You are going to have so many new people to meet when you wake up, you're going to love it," she said, smiling softly up at him. "I know how much you like meeting new people."

Her only reply was the steady rhythm of the ventilator and the machine measuring his vitals. She sighed, laying her head down on the bed, her hand still tucked in his.

Her silent rest was short lived as quick footsteps drew louder outside the room, followed by a sharp intake of breath. Elsa looked up, her stomach knotting a little bit when she saw Diane Frost standing halfway in the room.

"Oh Jack," Diane said softly before taking a few short strides to the other side of the bed, her hands coming up to cover her mouth as she took in the sight of him.

Diane still wore her gloves and jacket, her purse was still slung over her arm and her greyed hair was pulled up in a halfhearted bun at the back of her head. She turned as another set of footsteps approached the room, a young willowy brunette coming into the room, panting slightly. She looked almost identical to Jack, with large blue eyes, pale skin and a wry curve of her lips.

Diane slipped an arm around Pippa as she came over, both of them quiet as they looked at Jack, Elsa not knowing what she should say either.

Mari came back into the silent room a moment later, holding a piece of paper that she looked at as she walked.

"Okay, Elsa," she said. "I got his labs back, finally, oh, hello."

Mari looked up as she almost walked into Pippa and smiled at the new couple in the room.

"Oh, thank you Mari. I hope I'm not keeping you too late," Elsa said, leaning to look at the nurse around Pippa's side.

"It's just a couple minutes, it's fine. I know we were waiting on them all day, I didn't want you to think I had forgotten about them," Mari smiled at her, stepping over to Elsa with the paper and showing it to her.

"Mari, this is Diane and Pippa, Jack's mother and sister."

"Hello!" Mari said with a small wave. "I'm one of Jack's nurses, Mari."

Diane gave her a small smile before looking back at Jack, holding Pippa's hand tightly.

"So, his labs look good, well they look like what we expect for right now," she pointed at some of the figures on the paper. "His white count is high, but that's expected. His hemoglobin is low, so Shane is going to bring in some blood to give him."

"Is that bad?" Diane said, speaking up in a slightly panicked voice.

Mari shook her head, smiling. "No, it's expected. With the accident and then with the surgery, especially with having lost an organ, even something minor like the spleen, you're going to have blood loss. They gave him some in surgery, we are just going to give him a little more to try and stay on top of everything."

Elsa nodded, looking at all the other numbers on the page. They looked like a foreign language to her right now.

"I know this says that some of the figures are high right now, but we're feeding him a cocktail of things through that I.V. so some things are going to be. Everything is pretty normal right now, after giving him a little blood he should look a little better too."

Elsa had hardly noticed how pale Jack still was, she still saw him in the car in her mind, his skin looking almost the color of pie crust then.

"But he's doing really good," Mari said, smiling at all of them. "If he can keep these numbers up tomorrow, we can start trying to see how he breathes on his own the next day."

"What does that mean?" Diane asked again.

"It's part of the process in seeing if he's ready to come off the ventilator," Mari told her, patting Elsa's hand and walking over to Diane. "Do you want to come out here with me and I'll answer any more questions you have? I just need to finish a little bit of paperwork, but I can do two things at once."

Diane hesitated for a moment before nodding, turning to follow the brightly colored nurse out of the room. Pippa stayed, slowly walking to take Anna's seat at the foot of the bed, her normally cheery face drawn tight now.

"Are you okay?" she asked Elsa quietly.

Elsa nodded.

"An impressive cut on my forehead, a burn on my arm, some other cuts and bruises but I'm fine. And the baby is fine. Jack got the worst of it. And he did it on purpose, turned the car so I wouldn't get hurt," she said, turning to look at the younger girl.

Pippa smiled at that.

"Sounds like Jack, always looking out for everyone but himself."

Elsa smiled, turning to look up at Jack again.

"That's Jack alright," she agreed.

They sat in silence then, Diane coming back into the room a few minutes later and taking a seat on the other side of Jack's bed. They moved around when Shane came in later, administering medication and checking the various bags on the I.V. pole, murmuring a soft apology as he reached over Diane.

The sky was completely dark outside now, the moon rising into the sky as Pippa was nodding off in her chair. Diane sighed, looking back at her daughter.

"I don't want to leave him, but I need to get her to a bed," she confessed, giving a sorrowful look at Elsa.

"Go down to our house, it's not terribly far from here," Elsa said, bending to fish her keys from the purse under her chair.

"You aren't coming?" Diane said, a note of concern in her voice.

Elsa shook her head, coming up with the keys and holding them out for Diane.

"I couldn't bear sleeping in that big bed of ours, knowing he's up here alone. Knowing he's not beside me," she said, setting her chin down on her hands. "Could you bring me a change of clothes tomorrow though?"

Diane stared at her for a long moment, glancing down at the gift shop bought t-shirt and sweatpants Anna had bought for her. Finally, Diane nodded, a soft smile coming over her face.

"Okay," she said, standing and replacing her chair with the others. Pippa sat up straighter, her bleary eyes struggling to focus.

"And feed Olaf for me?"

"Olaf?" Pippa asked, yawning. "Who is Olaf?"

Elsa smiled. "Our cat. He's very friendly, loves curling up in a warm spot."

Pippa nodded, only half comprehending as she shuffled towards the entrance of the room. Diane smiled back at Elsa.

"We will see you tomorrow dear."

Elsa moved one of her hands out from under her chin and waved as they disappeared down the hall. She tried closing her eyes again, only to be awoken a moment later by soft measured steps coming into the room. She looked up with tired eyes to see Shane smiling down at her.

"Staying the night?" he asked her quietly.

She nodded, yawning again.

"I'll get comfortable in a minute here and I'll be out," she said, knowing that she also had the excuse that she'd just given Diane her keys and she didn't have a car at the hospital to get home with.

Shane nodded, turning and leaving the room. Elsa was surprised at how easy that had been and settled back down, rubbing her thumb along Jack's hand with a sigh.

Half an hour later, the sound of rumbling wheels sounded outside of Jack's room, causing her to look up again. Shane had returned, pushing a rather nice looking chair with a few pillows and a blanket draped over the seat. He stopped the chair just inside the room, stepping over to move the other chairs out of the way and gesturing for her to move as well. She did, stepping towards the entrance as she watched him maneuver the large, almost throne like chair into place beside the bed, bending down to lock the rolling wheels into place.

He turned and smiled at her.

"This will be more comfortable," he said. "It's a recliner, took me a little bit to find an unused one. There is a lever on the side there to make the leg rest come up."

Elsa smiled at him, thanking him. She walked over to the new chair, mindful of him watching her and sat down, sighing aloud at the much more comfortable seat. She positioned the pillows around her, carefully bringing up the leg rest and spreading the blanket out over her. She attempted to cover herself, shifting the blanket a few times. Shane chuckled, opening a cabinet door and pulling out another blanket, spreading it wide over her.

"Thank you," she said again, settling back into the chair and sliding her hand back into Jack's.

He smiled at her.

"Sweet Dreams," he said, turning off the light in the room and pulling the curtain to the room.

And Elsa slept with her husband, for the first time since that accident; their hands clasped together as the machines around them beat out a steady rhythm of breaths, beeps and exhalations.


	4. Chapter 4

**_Read this chapter carefully, there are a good amount of breaks in the beginning because I meant it to be like Elsa was dreaming, but being awoken a lot throughout the night. Enjoy! ~Aria_**

* * *

As the machines continued their siren song through the night with alarms, beeps and alerts, it was far from the best sleep Elsa had ever had. Shane came in on a regular basis to continue to administer Jack's medicine, giving kind, silent smiles to Elsa as she returned bleary eyed smiles to him before falling back to sleep before the next interruption.

* * *

Elsa dreamt in fractured intervals, about that long plane ride to America, with her mother leaning forward to speak with Bulda and her father; Anna and Kristoff sat behind her, quickly becoming fast friends. Everyone who spoke with Anna became fast friends with her it seemed like in those days. Elsa had just reclined her chair and tucked herself away, closing the windowshade and trying not to cry about leaving her home. Her father promised so much for them ahead, she wasn't sure she believed him.

* * *

A machine beeped, alerting Shane that one of the antibiotics that Jack was on had finished it's flow. The quiet man came into the room a few moments later, that soft smile on his face and silenced the machine while deftly moving the tangle of cords to disconnect the small bag had been attached to.

* * *

She dreamt again, of when they had arrived at the huge airport and stayed in a tight group as they worked through the huge concourse with their passports close at hand. So many different languages flowed around them, with so many different people all patiently standing in line, awaiting their turn to step up to the counter and be admitted to the country.

* * *

Bulda was flipping through her notes, muttering to herself as she checked things off with a slim pen that had been tucked inside. Otto and Helene flipped through a small stapled group of papers that had been in Bulda's folder, large colored photos displaying the new house they would be moving into. Helene smiled up, pointing excitedly at some of the rooms while Otto chuckled, nodding along. Behind her, Anna and Kristoff continued their conversation, their quick friendship continuing to blossom, though Anna turned to pout when he disagreed with her on one point or another. Elsa slipped the small earbud from her music player into her ear, silently shuffling along behind her parents and staring out the windows at the barren airport landscape as they waited their turn in the long line.

* * *

Another loud alarm. Jack was biting down on the tube leading into his mouth from the ventilator; his sedative was starting to wear off. Shane's calm form appeared again with that same serene smile on his face, quickly working to administer pain medicine and sedative, Elsa also relaxing as Jack slipped back to sleep, his restless arms that had been straining against the ties settling back down. She felt so helpless. Shane left again, leaving her to regain her position in her chair, her hand still grasping his.

* * *

Dreaming once more, she saw her family pulling up in front of the large red brick town house, in what her father had declared "Georgetown." It sat elegantly sandwiched between a white plaster home and another brick home, three levels high with two windows peeking out the top like eyes. The car holding herself, Anna and Kristoff stopped, Elsa opening the door while Anna bounced beside her, excited to get inside and see the 19th century house.

Once out of the car, Anna raced up the stairs, catching up to her mother who was working a key in the lock. They both laughed, both eager to get inside with Otto close behind. Elsa moved slower, attempting a cheery face as she heard the "oohs" and "wows" ahead of her. She quickly forced a smile when her father turned to look at her.

"Well, come on Elsa," he said. "Go choose your new room."

She nodded, keeping the smile on her face and skipped up the steps into the house, looking around at the impressive crown molding running down the top of the walls. The white walls with their impeccable white paneling looked classy and sophisticated in the older home. Carefully placed boxes and crates with descriptions of what lay inside written in Norwegian lay stacked and scattered in the rooms off to her left as she walked down the hard wood hall. She heard her mother and sister upstairs and looking further down the hall she saw the staircase starting at the end; the molding, hardwood and paneling continued all up the stair, a print carpet running carefully up the middle. She skipped up the stairs, holding her smile as she heard Anna running down the hall and opening a door.

"Oh, Elsa!" Anna said, as she rushed back down the hall. "You have GOT to see the master suite. It's AMAZING."

Elsa smiled at her.

"After I choose my room," she said.

Anna gasped. "Not before I do!" Anna bolted up the stairs to the third floor, Elsa close behind her, both of the sister giggling.

"Careful girls," Helene called, slowly coming up behind them.

There were 2 bedrooms on the second floor, one being the master suite which Otto and Helene would take, and the other Bulda would take until she found a suitable place for herself and Kristoff. The floor they were on now had four bedrooms, spaced out over the surprisingly wide floor of the town-home. Anna dashed into one, giggling before dashing back out and down the hall, into the next. Elsa walked down the hall to the furthest room while she listened to Anna remarking over the rooms.

The back room was quiet, albeit slightly drafty, with the walls painted a soft grey color. The ceiling was high in the room, sloping up to a point to show one of the upper windows she had seen on the street. A small set of stairs led up to the windowseat of the window, overlooking the street., Elsa could imagine settling herself up there for hours with a good book.

An iron fireplace sat stoutly against one wall, boasting it's excellence at being able to scare off even the coldest of nights. Across from the fireplace, sat a set of double doors that she crossed the room to open briefly to reveal a deep closet. Lastly was a single door, nestled slightly in the corner that led to a tiny bathroom, fit into the slope of the house. The toilet was set back into a small space, an amazing looking standing shower with a glass door and rounded sink, the small basin trying to give the most counter space possible to the user.

Elsa smiled, quickly heading back out into the hall and calling down the hall to her mother.

"This one is mine."

Helene looked up, surprised.

"But you haven't looked at any of the others," she said, stepping down the hall.

Elsa shook her head. "This is the one I want."

Helene looked at her for a moment as Anna raced down the hall, bounding into the room with a gasp, inspecting it for herself. Helene nodded, smiling at Elsa.

"Alright," she conceded, stepping inside to look for herself.

"Oh, you have a bathroom?" Anna exclaimed, opening the door.

* * *

The siren of the machines awoke Elsa again, causing her to yawn this time and notice the soft glow of sun breaking through the morning clouds. She wasn't even sure what it was this time, her fatigue was starting to wear on her, the thought of decent sleep crossed her mind for a moment before Shane came in again.

"Good morning," she said, her head resting on the side of the bed.

He smiled at her, pressing the buttons and adjusting bags and tubes silently before looking down at Jack.

"Dr. Layug is going to be by shortly," he said, that soft voice of his carrying through the mostly quiet room. "He likes to do his rounds early."

Elsa nodded, yawning again.

"What time is it?"

Shane checked his watch.

"6:30."

Elsa groaned a little, nestling back down into her chair.

"Are you going to take my chair?"

He smiled at her, the edges of his eyes crinkling up to betray that he might be older than he looked.

"No, you can keep the chair."

She smiled at him, closing her eyes again. She didn't dream this time, her eyes closing for what felt like the barest of moments before opening them to another knock on the door. She carefully sat up, seeing the small Filipino doctor stroll into the room. He smiled at her, his eyes softening as he took in her appearance. She stood from the chair, wincing at the protest of tired muscles and straightened her clothes, smiling still.

"I just wanted to come check on him," he said, gesturing to her sleeping husband.

He stepped forward, carefully pulling the blanket up and over Jack's left leg. Mari and Shane hadn't messed with his lower blanket so this was the first she had seen Jack's leg. She gasped, seeing the long angry incision, a puncture wound where a bone had broken out through the skin, and the line of surgical staples that now bound it all together. Circular black metal bands, looking like something almost out of a science fiction movie, ran up the length of his entire leg, keeping the bones in place while they began their slow healing process.

He paused and looked up at her, a slightly guilty look on his face.

"Did you not know about this?"

She swallowed, her eyes still fixed on that long ugly line running up his whole leg.

"It's fine," she said. "I just-I just didn't realize it was so bad."

He turned back to his query, carefully examining the incision before stepping back to grab a set of latex gloves. He touched the wound in several places silently, his brow furrowed in concentration or concern.

"What are you looking for?" she finally asked him, as he straightened and pulled off his gloves.

"Just trying to keep an eye out for infection," he said. "With a big break and open surgery like this, it's possible and we don't want that to happen obviously. We have him on antibiotics to try and prevent it as well, it looks good though."

He tossed the spent gloves in the wastebin and carefully re-tucked the sheet and blanket under Jack's leg, mindful of the large apparatus encompassing his leg.

"His right leg isn't like that, is it?" she said, noticing the difference in size between his two legs now.

Dr. Layug shook his head. "No, his right leg was fine, considering. The left was damaged so much because it was the side of impact. There are rods and other various things holding this leg together now to help it heal."

Elsa nodded.

"Is there anything I should watch for?"

He considered, opening his mouth, closing it and opening it again to speak.

"If it gets really red and hot, the incision, tell one of the nurses."

She nodded again. He smiled at her, bade her farewell and left the room. Elsa trudged back to her chair, settling back down and pulling her blankets up over her. She looked at Jack, his sleeping form, not seeing the spread of bruises across his neck and shoulders, or the myriad of tiny cuts on his cheek.

"Well," she said aloud to him, pulling her legs up under her. "Going through airport security will be more interesting now."

She imagined his sly grin and chuckle as his response. She picked up his hand, his palm softened slightly from his grasp throughout the night, running her fingers over the smoothed, worn skin where he usually wore a silver ring, adorned with a stylized snowflake that looked like a signet, on his right middle finger. The hospital had removed all his jewelry, giving it to her later in a small bag. She laced her fingers in with his and laid down again, attempting to get some more, much needed sleep.

* * *

Jack flew on, wondering more than once if he was ever going to arrive at the city, wondering if he was just flying in place. He yelled at the wind, cursed the sky, and kept a wary eye out around him. Nothing felt right, his body felt heavy, his left leg ached and his throat was parched but pressed on, desperate to get there.

A vision of a woman flashed through his mind, small and slender, with a confident stance and beautiful features.

"Elsa," he whispered to the wind, his resolve doubling as he pushed harder onwards. He knew her, every fiber of his being screamed out that he knew her.

That ominous cackle sounded around him again, this time he ignored it, pressing all of his strength into moving forward. That black shadow flashed again, this time Jack had to pause, the fog invading his mind again. His head swirled, his vision swimming and then, Pitch was there in front of him. His menacing features smirking down at Jack.

Jack gripped his staff firming in both hands, raising it ready to attack the Nightmare King in a moment's notice.

"Pitch, what are you doing?" he demanded, backing away from the dark figure.

Pitch's grin grew wider, the air darkening around him.

"Oh, thought I would just stop by, say hello to an old friend," he said, that deadly calm of his voice sending a chill down Jack's spine.

"We aren't friends," Jack said coldly.

"No?" Pitch said, shifting slightly, the small cloud of nightmare sand he floated on carrying him aloft barely. "What a pity."

Jack glared at him, not moving.

"Well, I suppose I'll be off then," Pitch said, giving him a strange smile.

Pitch lurched forward, his hand brushing along Jack's left leg before he vanished, that cackle echoing around him. Jack leaped back, shaking his leg and quickly running a hand over where Pitch had touched him. The black sand Pitch had perfected stuck to his skin, like tiny burs, and as Jack moved around trying to wipe it off, the air movement caused it to blow further up his leg. Jack cursed, spinning around in the air as the dark particles stuck to him. He looked around, frantic and flew forward, able to move faster now and sped towards the water, his focus now on whatever Pitch had done to him.

* * *

Elsa was awoken for the last time when Anna came into the room, a slight scowl on her face when she saw her sister's sleeping arrangements.

"You slept here?"

Elsa gave a nod, stretching out. Anna crossed her arms, the plastic bag she carried swaying with the movement.

"Anna, I couldn't leave. I just," she hesitated, looking up at Jack. "I couldn't imagine trying to sleep without him beside me. Just me alone in that big bed without him?"

She shook her head.

"I'd rather sleep here, in this chair next to him, than in the penthouse at The Ritz without him."

Anna's face softened, her stance relaxing as Elsa spoke. She smiled, taking in a breath to speak when Pippa hurried into the room, a huge smile on her face. Kristoff and Diane were close behind her, talking to each other.

"Elsa!" Pippa said, carrying a phone over to her. "Have you seen Kristoff's dog? He's huge!"

Pippa showed her the phone that displayed a picture of Kristoff standing next to a dog standing on his hind legs, a plastic carrot between his teeth. The dog was massive, a brown and grey shaggy coat covering his body. Kristoff wore a huge grin as he held the dog up, one arm wrapped half around the mongrel.

"Dogs are the greatest," Kristoff said, sitting down in one of the chairs unceremoniously.

"What's his name?" Pippa asked, taking the phone back from Elsa and handing it back to Kristoff.

"Sven!" he replied, smiling with pride. "A good proper name."

Pippa wrinkled her nose, looking at Kristoff and Elsa.

"You both have strange pet names."

Kristoff scowled.

"We are Norwegian," he said. "Maybe you are the one who has strange pet names."

Pippa rolled her eyes, skipping around the end of the bed to her mother, taking the cloth bag Diane held and holding it up for Elsa to see.

"We brought you clothes, like you asked!"

Elsa smiled at her. While Pippa seemed to be taking everything in stride, and ignoring her brother lying in the bed just beside her, Elsa knew that Pippa was just coping in the best way she knew how; by making the most of what she had.

"I need to walk a little bit," Elsa said, standing. "Do you want to go with me? Since they are here with Jack now."

Pippa glanced up at her brother's sleeping form, the machine keeping the rise and fall of his chest steady before nodding. She turned, walking towards the front of the room while Elsa worked her way on cramped muscles toward her.

"Be back soon," she said, stepping to Jack's side and bending to kiss his forehead. "Love you."

She turned, stepping to take Pippa's outstretched hand with a smile as they left the room, walking down the hall. It felt strange to Elsa, leaving Jack's room but she only did so knowing that he wasn't alone. She trusted the nurses, knew that they did a wonderful job, but they were busy as well.

Pippa led her to the restrooms, smiling and chatting to her about Olaf, seemingly in love with the fluffy white cat after just a night with him. Apparently the cat had taken a liking to Pippa and had crawled under the covers with Pippa, much to her delight, and snuggled up with her through the late hours.

"That might have been because I gave him a can of tuna," Pippa admitted.

Elsa raised a brow, pushing open the restroom door.

"I couldn't find your catfood!" Pippa said with a blush.

Elsa laughed. "I'm sure you are his best friend now."

Pippa grinned, handing over the bag as Elsa went into one of the stalls, pulling out the clothes Pippa had brought for her and removing her old clothes.

"Do you think Jack will be able to come to my graduation?" Pippa asked softly from outside the stall. Pippa was a senior in high school, one of the oldest in her class having just missed the age cut off. She and Jack were almost ten years apart in age, but had been very close growing up.

Elsa pulled the fresh shirt over her head, settling it over her chest.

"I'm sure he will, the doctors seem very optimistic about his recovery, they just say it will take time," she replied, biting her lip after she spoke. She knew that Pippa needed her to have a brave face, but it was hard when she could barely hold her own.

She finished the in the stall, stepping out and walking to a sink, fishing the hairbrush out of the bag and pulling the tie she had in her hair out. Pippa sniffled a little, her wide smiling face from just a scant few minutes ago gone, tears now in her eyes. Elsa sat the bag down in a sink and turned to her, pulling the younger girl into her arms.

"Oh Pippa," she said.

"I-I'm," Pippa said, hiccuping as she tried to stop crying. "I just was so shocked to see him like that. We came down here and I just expected him to be sitting up, waiting to be laughing and joking like he always is. Not, not like this."

Elsa rubbed her back, looking up at the ceiling trying to blink away tears of her own.

"I know," she said, swallowing, her own voice cracking. "But he's going to get better. And we have to be strong for him when he does."

Pippa sobbed, wrapping her arms tight around Elsa's waist. Elsa held her for a long moment, running her hand up and down Pippa's back before the younger girl took a deep breath, a small hiccup escaping and looked up at Elsa.

"Sorry," she said quietly. "It's just, this is harder than I thought it would be."

Elsa sighed and nodded, wincing slightly as Pippa's arm brushed her bandaged burn. Pippa stepped back and dabbed at her eyes with a bit of paper towel that she grabbed from the dispenser. Elsa stepped back over to the sink, picking the hairbrush up again and running it through her hair.

"Here, let me," Pippa said, stepping behind her and grabbing the tie Elsa had set aside. Elsa smiled, holding the brush for Pippa to take. She began making long strokes, concentrating on Elsa's blonde hair, murmuring an apology as the brush snagged on a tangle. Once Elsa's hair was smooth and glossy, Pippa's hands came up and began to work through it, separating and braiding it.

"Thank you," Elsa said, turning to smile at her when she was done.

Pippa nodded, silently slipping the brush back into bag.

"We should get back," she said, looking up at Elsa.

Elsa nodded, putting her hand on Pippa's shoulder. "They said last night that if his labs continue to improve, they can take him off the breathing machine soon. So let's just hope for that, okay?"

Pippa nodded, smiling at her. "Yeah, let's hope for that."

They turned, leaving the restroom and headed back down the hospital hall, it's generic and sterile walls staring back at them as it had seen so many different faces over the long years. Elsa had the feeling she would get to know them very well in the coming weeks, though she prayed that she didn't.

As they entered the room, Anna turned and smiled at her, holding up a cereal bar from the plastic bag she had brought with her. Elsa smiled, stepping over to take the bar and turning to look at Jack. He laid on the bed just as she had left him, still with his arms tied down, the shape of the leg form under the blanket, and the blue tubing leading into his mouth to help him breath. Still, even with all of that, even with the bruises and scrapes, she smiled seeing the man she loved. She settled back down in her chair.

"I think we should talk to him," she said to the group, looking up at them as she fiddled with the packaging on the bar.

They looked at each other, before looking back at her.

"Talk to him?" Diane asked, sitting primly in her chair.

Elsa nodded. "Why not? He's asleep, dreaming most likely. Maybe he can hear us."

She slipped her hand into his like she had all night, her brows raising when his hand twitched slightly. She smiled, looking up at him.

"Jack, Pippa has become quite smitten with Olaf," she said, turning to smile at Pippa. Pippa gave her a wary look, pausing for a moment before moving her chair forward and launching into the stories of Olaf from her overnight stay.

The morning was full of them all taking turns, talking to Jack, only stopping when the nurses would come in to administer doses of medicine. Elsa smiled, carefully settled in her chair as they settled into a routine to get them through the day.

* * *

_**Sven is an Irish Wolfhound in this story.**_

_**Bunny has not yet made an appearance, though you will see him soon.**_


	5. Chapter 5

Jack crashed into the water, splashing water up onto his leg as he cursed Pitch's name. The black sand still clung to him, all up and down his leg now in a jagged line. Jack scrubbed at it, desperate to get it off of him but to no avail; he ran frost and ice down his leg, trying to freeze it off and still nothing happened. The long, black jagged line of the sand ran up his leg, like a bad omen.

Jack cursed again, gripping hard to his staff and shot back up into the air. He had to get to that town, the Moon had told him to. He would be safe there, some nagging sense told him that he would.

With his leg now screaming at him, that dark brand burning like a hot fire, Jack turned in the air to find his destination. Something was happening to him, and he needed to be someplace safe when it happened.

* * *

Elsa lay stretched out in her chair, her head tilted back on a pillow with her mouth open as a soft snore escaped. Pippa giggled softly, looking up from the game she was playing on her phone. It was late afternoon, Anna and Kristoff had left to go to the cafeteria for a bite to eat when Diane and Pippa had returned.

Elsa had passed out while reading a book and Kristoff was explaining to Jack the newest details of his carpentry project for his shop. And Kristoff, liked to get into the details, describing each cut and carve of the wood to Jack. Even Anna had nodded off.

"Shh," Diane said, nudging her. "She needs her sleep. I'm sure she didn't get very good sleep last night."

"Do you think she'll come back to the house with us tonight?" Pippa asked looking at her mother.

Diane looked at Elsa's sleeping form for a long moment before glancing at her son and shook her head.

"I don't think heaven or hell could move her from this room for more than a few moments."

* * *

Elsa dreamed. Her thoughts took her back to that first, hot summer in D.C. as they sorted through all of their things, wading through mounds of paper and unscrewed carefully packed plywood to unearth their family treasures. Bookshelves were built, dishes were stacked, paintings hung and art pieces placed in strategic positions all throughout the house.

Any free time Elsa had, she spent up in that big window in her room with a canteen of icy water and fan pointed on her as she paged through book after book in comfortable silence. Anna had taken the room across the hall from hers, and claimed the larger full bath in the hall as hers as well, forcing Kristoff to take the room furthest from them that mirrored Elsa's. He didn't seem to mind, he spent most of his time up at the roof garden, playing with bits of wood or trying desperately to convince his mother to get a dog. Elsa only knew of his activities because she could hear them from the window she sat at. She wasn't entirely sure what Anna did all summer, she spent most of it downstairs with their mother Elsa assumed.

One day, late in July, Bulda came up into her hot room, cursing the sticky heat.

"Don't you melt up here child?" she asked, sitting down on Elsa's carefully made bed and fanning herself with the papers she had brought up.

Elsa smiled, placing her marker in her book and hopping down from the ledge, turning the fan towards the older woman before coming to sit beside her.

"Oh, well that certainly makes a difference," she remarked, smiling as the cool air washed over her.

Elsa giggled. "What's up Bulda?"

Bulda sighed, opening her ever present leather folder and looking at Elsa.

"So, I started looking into the various school accommodations around here for the three of you. I have to admit, I did put it off a little bit, I was busy getting your father settled in to the embassy but that's no-"

"Bulda, it's fine. I understand. Papa comes first," Elsa said, cutting the woman's verbal self-flagellation off with a gentle touch on her arm.

Bulda smiled at her. "Well, the reason I came up here is that, well, American schools are much different. In Norway you would still have a year left of Secondary school, what they call High School here, but in America, well you would have already finished that education step."

Elsa blinked at her.

"So what do I do then?"

Bulda sighed. "Well, I have all of your transcripts, I suppose you have two options: either retake a year of secondary school here in America or I can see about applying for a special graduation certificate for you and we can work on getting you into university."

Elsa sighed, considering her options. She didn't want to have repeat anything, she hated boring lessons.

"I don't want to repeat anything," she said aloud, echoing her thoughts.

Bulda nodded. "I'll see what I can do then lovie," she said, heaving herself off the bed and heading back downstairs to the cooler air.

Elsa laid back on her bed, thinking. Things were going to be very strange here in America after all.

The next couple weeks went by quickly, Elsa joined Anna and Helene with their outings as she prepared to attend the high school Bulda had selected for Anna and Kristoff. Anna would be going in as a Sophomore, Kristoff a Junior. The trio of ladies enjoyed going through the mall and picking out new clothes, bags and shoes for all of them, not just for Anna's new school year.

Bulda finally came back to Elsa the week before Anna was set to head into the foray that was American high school. The English tutor they had hired to help refine their speech had been over every day with her and Kristoff, carefully going over speech and syntax with them. Bulda ushered Elsa into the other room, a stack of folders and pamphlets under her arm and a smile on her face.

"So, I have good news! I was able to get everything cleared, you have officially graduated from high school, or secondary school!"

Elsa smiled, a pang passing in her stomach; no celebrations or congrats from her family, just a informal declaration from her father's secretary and it was done. She nodded for Bulda to continue.

Bulda smiled at her.

"Unfortunately, it's too late for you to get into a school for this next semester, but I might be able to get you into some classes for the following semester, depending on which university you choose."

Elsa nodded, leaning forward as Bulda began spreading out a plethora of papers, folders and pamphlets for Elsa to peruse. They spent the next hour eliminating prospects based on distance, Elsa didn't want to be too far from her family, or on other undesirable traits; Elsa wanted to go to a larger school. Once narrowed down, she started looking through course catalogs, degree options and campus offerings with Bulda's excited input chattering away beside her.

Finally, Elsa set all the others she did not want in the reject pile and sat the remaining choice in front of her, nodding to Bulda. One of the degree options had just spoken to her as soon as she had read it, and she found herself going back to it while she had looked through all of the others.

"You are sure?" Bulda asked, sliding the Georgetown folder away and flipping to the page Elsa had marked.

Elsa nodded. "I'm sure."

Bulda smiled. "Well, I'm sure your father will puff up like a proud peacock. Let me see what I can do dear."

"Thanks Bulda," Elsa said.

* * *

A loud knock on the door woke Elsa from her dream, jerking her upright and causing her to look around quickly. Pippa chortled again, causing Elsa to flush.

"I didn't mean to fall asleep," she muttered.

"You needed the sleep dear," Diane said, turning to see Mari, her scrubs decorated with tiny hummingbirds today, with another nurse, both carrying large mustard yellow tubs, smiling in the doorway.

"It's time to get Jack cleaned up, if you want to go down to the cafe for a bit perhaps?" Mari suggested, the hummingbird earrings bouncing at her earlobes.

Diane and Pippa gathered their things, hurrying to the door while Elsa moved items and chairs away from the bed.

"Elsa, are you coming?" Pippa asked.

She shook her head. "No, I'll stay and help."

Diane smiled at her, nodding and the two of them left, chatting softly as the nurses came into the room, shutting the door and pulling the curtain. Approaching the bed, Mari handed her a stack of warm cloths and gestured for her to stay on his less injured side.

"Let us work on this side, there is a lot things to be delicate of," she said, smiling at Elsa.

They set to work, carefully cleaning Jack's battered body and redressing wounds. The nurses brought out a stack of new linens as well, deftly, quickly but with all the care in the world moving his body around the old, soiled sheets and setting the fresh ones under him. Elsa was impressed to say the least.

Setting his metal encased leg on top of the new linens, the second nurse carefully examined the surgical wound, biting her lower lip slightly.

"Mari," she said softly, looking up at the hummingbird clad nurse.

Elsa looked between them nervously as they both looked at the wound, carefully touching it in different places with gloved hands.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Mari looked up at her, giving her a big smile.

"Oh I'm sure it's nothing, Dr. L just said to keep a close eye on this big incision. It's probably just red from all the moving around we did while cleaning him. I'll tell Shane to look at it again later tonight when it has time to settle down a bit. Don't panic, okay?"

Elsa felt a cold chill run down her spine, there was a worried look in Mari's eyes but she nodded, swallowing a lump that had formed in her throat.

"How do his labs look?"

"Excellent, as always. He's a trooper this one," Mari said, smiling up at him. "We are waiting for the latest set to come back, shouldn't be more than an hour and if they are good, we will start trying to take him off the ventilator."

Elsa breathed a sigh of relief at that, smiling at Mari.

"Thank goodness for that."

"Are you staying again tonight?" she asked, gathering up the spent supplies and tossing the soiled linens in a specially marked bin.

Elsa nodded, moving her chair back into place next to his bed. Mari smiled.

"I'm going to have to start calling that your throne."

Elsa laughed. "What, the Queen of room 221?"

Mari grinned at her, pulling the curtain back as Jack was tucked all back into bed and resting comfortably.

"I'll be back in when I get those labs back."

Elsa nodded, settling back down into her chair with a smile on her face, gathering Jack's hand into her own with a smile on her face.

"Oh my love," she said, looking up at him. "I hope you wake up soon. I am missing you like even I can't imagine."

* * *

Jack raced towards the town, he was getting closer, he could see the shapes of houses and spires of a castle finally coming into view. His leg throbbed and burned from that long jagged line Pitch had given him. Jack wanted to scream, but bit the inside of his cheek to keep from doing so; he didn't want to give the other man the pleasure of watching him squirm any more than he already had.

Jack landed hard on the flagstones, limping and cursing as he did so; he leaned heavily on his staff and looked around. The village was empty, not a person, cart or animal in sight. Not trusting himself to attempt to walk, he lifted off carefully into the air, hovering around the empty square as a gust of wind blew in.

"Jack?" a female voice called out to him, causing him to look up. He frowned, the last time this happened it was Pitch attempting to trick him; though it had also gotten him his memories in the end.

Gripping his staff in his hands, he moved carefully forward towards a long bridge that led to the castle. The voice called out to him again, and he paused, seeing movement ahead.

"Pitch, I swear if that is you," Jack said through gritted teeth, all but seething.

The gate opened ahead of him and he paused in his rage, moving forward to get a better look. A woman stood there, smiling up at him, in an ice blue dress that hugged her figure and reflected the dimming sunlight like icicles.

"Jack," she breathed again, looking up at him.

He stared down at her, knowing her with every fiber of his being.

"Elsa," he whispered,

* * *

**_Going to be getting into some longer chapters soon, I've been having to work at setting things up for you all and that takes time. Plus, real life and reasons. Sorry this one was a little short, but I hope you enjoyed it! Review! Let me know what you thought! ~Aria_**


	6. Chapter 6

**_Sorry this took so long guys, as I said in the Vignette chapter I just posted I've had some health things, some family things, the original story that caught my attention for a spell and a bit of writer's block on this chapter. Hopefully I'll be able to start getting these chapters out quickly again since my family's time down in Florida is over._**

**_Hope you enjoy! Love! Aria_**

**_A/N: Sam in the paragraphs below is a nurse that took care of my grandmother when she was VERY sick in the hospital. I loved him to pieces, and he was by far my favorite of her nurses to talk with and he was SO nice to my grandma. So the characterization below is based around him specifically, love to Sam!_**

* * *

Elsa sat in her chair, tapping the screen on her phone as she answered emails from work and chatting with Pippa next to Jack's bedside. Diane had pulled out a book from her bag and was slowly flipping through the pages, glancing up to check on them every few moments as the long hours slowly ticked by.

"How long are you staying?" Elsa asked her, wondering how long they would be able to stay with Pippa still being in school.

Diane sighed, casting Jack a worried look.

"I want to stay until he's awake of course," she said, pausing and looking at Pippa. "But I need to get Pippa back for her classes. We will probably have to head back this weekend."

Elsa nodded, looking up at Jack's sleeping form herself, the machine controlling his breathing wheezing beside her.

"You'll keep us updated, right?" Pippa said softly.

Elsa looked at her, seeing the concern in the younger girl's eyes and smiled softly.

"Of course. But the nurses were saying that everything was looking good so far, maybe he'll be awake before you leave."

Pippa smiled at that, leaning her chin down on the mattress. They sat in a comfortable silence for a time, each with their own tasks or thoughts until there was a hard rap at the door and the sounds of several pairs of footsteps walking into the room. Elsa looked up from her email to see Mari and Sam (one of the other nurses, a tall, dark-skinned man from Nigeria that she enjoyed talking to) hurrying into the room, a concerned look on Mari's normally cheery features.

"Hello Elsa," Sam said in his crisp, proper accent, smiling at her as they approached Jack.

Pippa stood and backed away, pulling the chair she had been sitting in as the nurses smiled at her.

"Everything okay?" Elsa asked, standing up as she felt the nervous energy in the room they brought with them.

Mari bit her lip, handing a pair of gloves to Sam before pulling on a pair for herself.

"His labs came back elevated, so I just want to check on something," she said, pulling at the tucked bedsheet around Jack's left leg.

Elsa swallowed, fearful of what they were going to find beneath the crisp white linen. The nurses glanced at each other as the sheet was pulled up to reveal the metal encased leg, Mari turning to leave the room a moment later.

Elsa moved around the bed, worried now at the normally calm nurses' reaction. She paused, her breath catching as Sam laid the sheet down to leave Jack's leg uncovered; the jagged line of Jack's incision was puffed up and a bright, angry shade of red. She watched as the man carefully touched his gloved fingers to a few spots on the line, doing his best to keep his expression calm but she could see the worry in his eyes.

"Sam?" she said softly, her voice breaking softly.

He looked up at her, not smiling this time. "He's in the right place, Elsa. We'll take good care of him."

Elsa swallowed, her eyes drawn to that angry line on Jack's leg and said a silent prayer, a cold lump of fear in her throat.

* * *

Jack stared at her, his mind struggling to comprehend her being here. He knew her, every part of his being screamed that he knew her, but he knew he'd never seen her before.

"Elsa," he said again, watching as she glided towards him, a concerned look on her face.

"Jack, you're hurt," she said, looking down at his leg and bending down, reaching a slender arm out to touch it.

"Don't," he said, hopping back on his right leg with his weight still on his staff, favoring his left. "I don't know what Pitch did to it."

She hesitated, looking up at him with a worried look, her hand still extended towards the dark line that was scored down his leg. She slowly straightened, still watching him and extended her hand.

"Come inside then," she said, smiling at him. "I'll watch over you."

Jack hesitated, looking around dubiously at the strange empty village as the wind blew at him from behind, the breeze seeming to beckon him to go with her. His leg ached, screaming at him for rest even as he held it inches off the ground. He looked back at her as she watched him patiently, still smiling at him, and nodded, limping forward with a hiss of pain.

She stepped towards him, slipping an arm around his waist to help shoulder his weight as they slowly made their way towards the palace ahead of them.

* * *

Elsa sat alone in her chair again, Diane and Pippa had gone back to the house for the evening and she knew the time had to be getting late. She held Jack's hand, absently rubbing the back of his hand with her thumb as her mind wandered.

Mari and Sam had come and gone in the hours after they had came to look at Jack's leg, taking more blood and fluid from the incision to send to the lab to see how bad the infection was. More bags of antibiotics hung from the metal tree that fed into Jack's arm, the medicines valiantly trying to stave off the infection that had already begun to fight inside of him.

She sighed, wiping her eyes on her shoulders and smiling down at him.

"Should have known you'd never make my life easy," she told him. "From the moment I met you, all those years ago at Georgetown, I just knew you were going to be trouble."

He stayed still, she knew he couldn't answer her. But she could hear the long repeated, "Gotta loosen you up, you need to have some fun!" of his voice in her mind. The rhythmic hum and working of the machines around them was the only sound in the room.

"Do you remember that first semester together at Georgetown? I'm sure you do, I certainly do," she said, shifting her seat and grasping his hand in both of hers, leaning her head back as she began to recall her memory.

* * *

Elsa looked around her small dorm room, at all of her things neatly arranged, organized and hung as she liked them. Her books, supplies and bag were arranged on her desk, ready for the first day of classes in just a few days; a piece of cardstock was pinned to the wall above her desk, her classes color coded and marked by hour and day with a separate wall calendar next to it to mark meetings, social events and exams.

Bulda had managed to get her in for basic classes that she would need for graduation the spring semester prior and over the summer, but she had taken those classes either online or commuted from the town house to the campus.

Now, she was truly a college student, with her own room. She'd applied, and been accepted, to the school's resident assistant program. Which meant that while she had a room to herself, she was responsible for organizing activities for the other students that lived on the same section of the dorm that she did, took role if there was ever an emergency, and handled any situations that might arise; with people living in close proximity together, she felt the latter was the most likely.

Most of the students had already checked in today, she'd been busy helping to unload boxes from cars, console teary freshmen as their parents drove away and getting to know the students that she'd be living around. She'd been slightly off put when she'd been told that she was assigned to a co-ed dorm, but she'd taken it in stride.

Walking over to her closet, she opened a drawer and removed her pajamas, moving to remove her shirt she paused at a knock on her door. Sighing, she walked over to see who it was, hoping that someone wasn't having an issue with their roommate in just their first hours together. She opened the door to see a boy she didn't recognize turn and smile at her. He was tall, thin with brown hair, brown eyes and a quick smile.

"Hey, um, they said you are the RA right? I'm Jamie, Jamie Bennett. Me and my roommate got lost on the way down the parkway. He took the wrong turn-"

"Did not! You told me wrong!" another male voice from down the hall called, followed by a curse and what sounded like something heavy falling.

Jamie turned his head and winced, causing Elsa to poke her head out into the hall. The other boy was sitting on the floor, picking up art supplies that had spilled out from the box he had been carrying; paintbrushes stuck up around the edges and several large sketchbooks lay sideways in the box as he scooped pencils, markers, erasers, rulers and paints back into the container.

"You okay Jack?" Jamie asked. "I told you to wait to bring things in."

Jack glared up at him, his white-blonde hair almost the same color as her own, and stood back up, carefully cradling the box in his arm and walking towards them.

"You have no freaking clue how expensive all of this stuff is, I'm not just going to leave it in the car. I spent half the summer working to pay for all of it," Jack said, smiling at her as he reached the door. "Hey. Jack Frost."

Elsa blinked, giving them both her best smile and stepped back to hold her door open. "Come in, I'm not sure which room you are in yet, I need to get my notes out. I thought everyone was checked in for the day."

They strolled inside, both smiling at her and waited as she walked to her desk, opening a drawer and removed the clipboard with everyone's names on it, moving her finger down the list looking for their names.

"Let's see, Jamie E. Bennett and Jackson O. Frost?" she asked, looking up at them.

"That's us," Jack said, looking around her room. "Except on Halloween, then the last name is Lantern."

Jamie shook his head, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Really Jack?"

"Oh come on," Jack said, looking at his roommate. "I've been waiting to use that one. That was a good one."

Elsa bit her lower lip, looking back down at her clipboard to see which room they would be in.

"See! She thought it was funny," Jack declared, using his free arm to point at Elsa.

"She's probably being nice," Jamie retorted. "What's all the weird writing that you have on your walls?"

She looked up, finger in place on the clipboard. "Sorry?"

Jamie gestured behind her. "The writing on the wall, it's not English. Sorry, I like studying other languages."

Elsa blushed, turning back to her drawer and removing the yellow welcome packets with their names on them and a smaller packet with their room number written on it.

"I'm Norwegian, actually," she said, gesturing for them to follow her back into the hall. "My father works at the Norway Embassy here in D.C.."

"Oh yeah? That's cool, what does he do?" Jamie asked her.

"He's the Ambassador," she said, smiling back at them as she stopped at the door immediately to the left of her own, wondering what adventures she was in for having these two living next door.

"That's awesome!" Jack said, hurrying past her into the room, sliding his box of supplies onto one of the desks. "Top bunk!"

Jamie groaned, walking behind him into the room. "Jack! You did this last year!"

Jack scrambled to the top bed, grinning down at his friend after he was situated. Elsa chuckled, holding out the envelopes to Jamie and the key she'd used to open the door.

"Come on," she said. "I'll help you bring in your things."

"Oh, you don't-"

"Shut up Jamie," Jack said, jumping down from the bed. "We can get moved in faster, since YOU got us lost. Plus, I want to hear what things are called in Norwegian, I bet they sound cool."

He grinned at Elsa, removing one of the keys from the smaller envelope and pocketing it before grinning at her.

"So, what's your major anyways? I'm doing art and art history myself," he said, walking into the hall with her.

"International History and Politics," she replied, clasping her hands in front of her.

He raised his eyebrows and whistled at her. "That's impressive, doesn't sound like much fun though."

"It's very interesting," she said, looking behind to see Jamie sprinting to catch up with them down the hall.

"Ah, but interesting doesn't mean it's fun," Jack said.

Jamie snorted from behind them. "Are you like the self-appointed king of fun now?"

Jack raised his chin, a wide smile on his lips. "Perhaps."

Elsa laughed, pushing open the door at the end of the hall. "I can tell you two are going to be very fun to live next to."

"You got that right, princess," Jack said, clapping his hands and running across the lot to their car.

* * *

Elsa squeezed her husband's hand, looking over as a machine beeped noisily that it had finished it's cycle of medicine and watched as Shane bustled in, smiling at her as he silenced the machine and quietly left himself.

"You certainly made sure I had my balance of fun that year, didn't you Jack?" she asked him, smiling down at their joined hands. "Forever pounding on my door to hang out, sliding sketches of something you'd seen on campus underneath for me to see, or the 2 am snack runs to Wal-Mart the two of you loved to go on. Well, you still do that sometimes."

She looked up at him, smiling. "I didn't want summer to come that year. It never occurred to me I was falling for you way back then."


	7. Chapter 7

Elsa sat in the front seat of Anna's car as her sister drove in silence south on the parkway, music playing softly in the background. It had taken a long hour of discussion from Anna, Diane and Pippa to convince Elsa that she should take a break from her bedside vigil for a few hours, go home and take a proper shower and maybe a decent nap before returning; She wasn't sure about the latter suggestion, but a nice shower did sound nice. After multiple assurances from Diane that she would call if there was any change in Jack's condition, the sisters had left, Elsa's heart tugging at her to stay but her mind telling her that getting away for a short time would be good for her.

Anna carefully changed lanes and slowed to take an exit, the steady click of the blinker overpowering the music in the otherwise silent car.

"Well," Anna said, turning her head to look for traffic as she eased onto the street. "Dr. North seemed pleased with the test results this morning, he was glad it wasn't that... that one thing. They've thrown so many medical terms around I can't keep them straight anymore."

Elsa moved her hand, sitting up a little straighter in her seat and sighed. "MRSA, it wasn't MRSA."

"Yeah, that."

"Yes, that is a good thing."

"I mean, it just sounds like they will just keep him on lots of antibiotics and that should clear things up, right?"

"Hopefully," Elsa said, watching the cars and houses flash past her window as Anna drove.

Silence fell back over the car, Elsa could see Anna casting her worried glances every few moments.

"Sorry," Elsa said, turning to give her sister a half smile. "I'm just tired. This has been exhausting."

Anna gave her a sympathetic smile and turned to focus back on the road.

"You just need a nice shower and a good nap, one not in that chair of yours. It's been almost a week since you've been home, I'm sure Olaf misses you terribly."

Elsa smiled but didn't respond, covering her mouth with her hands as she yawned, as if to emphasize her point that she was tired. She also didn't want to admit to her sister that being in a car again was making her nervous, and she was trying not to let it show. She ran a hand over her swollen stomach, smiling and closed her eyes, leaning her head back against the headrest as Anna began to make idle conversation about her girls.

They pulled into the drive of Elsa and Jack's house some time later, a relieved Elsa exiting the car and quickly moving her arms up into a languid stretch, still trying to not look nervous around her sister. Anna chuckled, coming around the car before they walked together to the front of the house.

"Oh," Anna exclaimed, stopping on the path and holding her hand out to pull some of the flowers close to her to smell. "Your heliotrope is so pretty. I wish I could grow it as well as you can."

Elsa smiled, unlocking the front door and stepping inside as she glanced at the various types of heliotrope bushes growing happily along the path.

"You know it's the only thing I have planted," she remarked as Anna followed her inside, closing the door behind her. "And it's because of the first one Jack brought me."

Elsa walked into the kitchen, Anna trailing behind her with a happy grin on her face and slid onto a barstool as Elsa began to flip through the stack of mail that was sitting on the counter, tossing several pieces into the trashcan.

"I know," Anna crooned. "It was so cute too. He took you by such surprise that summer, I'm still mad at you for not telling me about him before then."

Elsa grinned, opening a drawer and pulling out a butter knife that she used to open an envelope.

"You think I expected him to do that? I thought he was just friendly."

"Elsa," Anna said, flopping her arms down on the counter. "For the millionth time. A boy doesn't give you drawings like that just because."

Elsa smirked, scanning over the letter she had removed from the envelope before folding it back up and setting it down.

"I'm going to go take that shower," she declared, pulling her sweater off and laying it over her arm. "You'll keep yourself entertained?"

Anna gave her a mock salute with her hand, spinning on the stool before standing and heading for the living room and calling out Olaf's name. Presumably snuggling with the cat and watching some TV was her plan while her sister soaked in the shower.

Elsa walked down the hall to her own room, closing the door behind her and leaning back against it with a long sigh. After a moment, she stepped forward and began to strip her clothes, walking into the spacious master bathroom and turning the knobs for the shower. She waited for the water to heat up, examining the uncovered burn on her arm and peeling the bandage off her forehead while she did. She sat a couple of towels out for herself and moved her bathrobe to sit on the closed toilet seat before testing the water and stepping inside, sighing with pleasure as the warm water pounded over her skin. As she stood under the stream of water, her thoughts drifted back to Anna's earlier words about Jack, smiling as the memory of him bringing her flowers the summer after her first year of college.

* * *

Elsa sat curled up in her window, a college text open on her lap for one of the summer classes that she ignored as she stared absentmindedly out the window, her hand resting on the book as the fan on the floor blew up at her. She'd been trying to study for her class for the last hour and had been unsuccessful at it; she was debating seeing if her sister wanted to go get an ice cream or go to the mall.

She heard the doorbell ring downstairs, causing her to snap out of her drifting thoughts as she heard Anna scrambling down the stairs to answer it; it was likely one of her friends stopping by. So much for going out for ice cream. Elsa sighed, looking back down at her book and attempted to concentrate on the text again.

"Elsa?" Anna yelled up the stairs, a note of confusion in her voice. "There is someone here for you."

Elsa frowned, sliding her notebook into her text and jumped off her window seat and hurried from her room. Who could be here asking for her? She hadn't really made close enough friends with anyone in college to give out her home address, though she spoke to several people through email still.

Anna barrelled back up the stairs, a huge smile on her face as she looked up at Elsa, grabbing her elder sisters hand and pulling her back downstairs.

"It's a boy!" Anna whispered to her as they went down the stairs. "And he has flowers!"

Elsa blinked as they descended the first flight of stairs, rounded around and descended again to the ground floor.

"What?" she managed to ask, as Anna pulled her around the corner.

Anna shoved her forward, Elsa looking back to see her younger sister grin madly before running back up the flight of stairs. Elsa watched her go, turning confused to see Jack standing in the foyer of their house, holding a flower pot full of purple flowers and examining one of the large paintings hung on the wall.

"Jack," she exclaimed, surprised to see him and walked over to him.

He turned and smiled at her.

"Hey there," he said, stepping towards her. "Long time no see."

She chuckled. "It's been like three weeks since classes let out, hardly a long time. How did you find my house?"

He grinned. "Wasn't that hard. Your dad is listed on the Norway Embassy website, then looked up your last name in the phone book online. Not a lot of Sandvik's listed in Georgetown."

She nodded. "Fair enough. What are you doing down here? Shouldn't you be up working in Pennsylvania?"

"Geez, and here I thought you'd be happy to see me. I brought you flowers and everything," he said, holding out the clay pot for her.

She laughed, taking the pot from him, holding them up to look at them. "They are lovely. Sorry, I'm just surprised is all."

He smiled at her, gesturing at the door behind him. "Jamie is actually out in the car, we decided to come down and try to find a more permanent place instead of moving back and forth every summer, maybe try to find a good place to work during the school year and the summer. I thought you might want to come around with us, hang out for the day."

"And you just happened to have flowers with you?"

He blushed a little at that, grinning. "Well, I at least wanted to stop by and say hey while I was in town, would have been rude not to. Besides, you were saying once how you needed something for your window, I thought those would go great. The lady at the plant shop said they are easy to take care of."

She smiled at him. "Come on up, I'll put them in the window and grab my bag. I was thinking about going out just before you got here, you must have read my mind."

"So, that was your sister?" he asked, turning to follow her up the stairs.

"Yeah, that was Anna."

"She seemed," he paused, turning his hand as he searched for the right word. "Peppy."

Elsa snorted, glancing up to see Anna's face disappear from the railing above her.

"So, you guys are getting your own place? No more dorm life?" she said, rounding the staircase and walking down the hall to start going up the second stair. "I wasn't too hard of a RA for you, was I?"

He laughed, following close behind. "No, not at all. Just, trying to get our own place is all. This is a, um, nice place that you live in here."

She turned and smirked at him. "It's huge. I'm not sure why mother and papa wanted a place so big but," she shrugged, turning down the hall again and leading him down to her room.

Anna stared at her from her own room, her eyes huge as Elsa passed carrying the flowers. Jack gave her a small wave and a nervous smile as he followed behind her.

"Elsa," Anna started, speaking in Norwegian. "What are you doing?"

"Don't be rude," Elsa replied in English, turning into her room.

Anna followed behind, giving Jack a smile. "Who is this?" Anna continued, still speaking in their native tongue.

Elsa sighed, turned to face her sister and replied in the same language.

"He's just a friend of mine from college, he stopped by to see if I wanted to hang out, okay?"

Jack looked between the two sisters, giving Anna another nervous smile when she glanced at him. Elsa turned and stepped up into her window seat, bending over to slide the flower pot close to the window.

"Friends don't drive all the way down from Pennsylvania with flowers just to say hi," Anna continued.

Elsa leaned back, turning to give her sister an annoyed look.

"Stop being rude," she said again in English. "As I said, I'm going out for a bit, I shouldn't be out too long, right?"

She looked to Jack who gave another grin and shrugged. "I-I'm not sure to be honest, we have a list of places we want to go look at."

Elsa gave her sister a pointed look. "Just, I'll have my mobile if you need anything, okay?"

Anna gave her a wide grin, turning slowly on her heel and walking out of the room. "Have fun," she drawled out in English, giving Jack a wink as she left.

Elsa rolled her eyes as she walked over to her closet and pulled out her bag, unplugging her phone from it's spot on her desk. She glanced up to see Jack looking around her room, his hands working nervously together.

"You okay?" she asked, sliding her phone into her bag and coming over to him.

"Yeah!" he said, almost a little too quickly. "Yeah, fine. Just, ready to go look at everything."

She smiled and gestured for them to head back downstairs. "I'm ready."

* * *

Back in her shower, Elsa yelped as the water suddenly turned ice cold, causing her to jump back from the spray as the water pressure dipped; Anna must have used the bathroom. Elsa moved a cautious hand to test the water before stepping back in, grabbing her shampoo and beginning to quickly bathe herself before the hot water ran completely out.

When she was finished, she stepped out and grabbed the towels she set aside, sighing happily as she dried herself with the fluffy fabric before wrapping herself up in her soft bathrobe. She used one of the towels to wrap her hair up, twisting it around and flipping it back.

She had to admit that she felt a lot better after the long, hot shower. She smiled as she opened the bathroom door, the cooler air of the house hitting her as she padded out to the living room where Anna was sprawled out on the sofa. Olaf, her huge Himalayan cat, hopped off Anna's chest and came running over to Elsa's feet, meowing nonstop until she picked him up and cuddled him.

"Hey buddy," she said, stroking his long silky body as he purred loudly against her cheek.

"I swear he was looking for you while you were in the shower. He went over to your door and made the most pitiful of yowls," Anna said, aiming the remote at the TV and flipping through a few channels. "Did that feel good by the way?"

Elsa smiled and nodded. "Yeah, you were right."

Anna grinned and put a hand up to her ear. "I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you. I was what?"

Elsa laughed, setting the cat down on a chair and scratching behind his ear. "You were right, you were right," she said, holding up her other hand in surrender. "Any word from Diane?"

Anna shook her head, indicating her phone and Elsa's sitting on the couch right before her. "Nope, everything is still the same I'm guessing. You should take a nap."

Elsa opened her mouth to protest, but Anna sat up, holding up a finger much like their mother did when she was about to lecture them.

"Elsa, Diane said she'd let us know if there was any change in his condition, and you need some proper sleep. You can't have been getting good sleep in that chair at the hospital. So go back there and take a nap, you'll feel better afterwards."

Elsa stared at her, her eyes following Anna's hand as her sister gestured wildly.

"Go on," Anna continued, pointing back towards the bedroom. "I'm the mom of the two of us, so I'm making the rules."

Elsa laughed. "Okay, okay," she said, turning to head back into the bedroom. "But just because I waited to have kids doesn't make me less wise!"

Anna laughed. "Hah! Tell me that again in a year when you haven't slept properly for six months! Kids change EVERYTHING."

Elsa grinned, pausing in her steps as Olaf bolted down the hall in front of her and vaulted onto the bed, meowing incessantly again for her to come and join him. She walked over to her dresser and pulled out one of Jack's overlarge shirts, setting her robe across the end of the bed and pulling the shirt over her head. She dipped her nose beneath the collar and breathed deeply, smiling as she inhaled the scents of fresh laundry and Jack.

She shook her hair out of the towel and grabbed her brush, pulled the covers back on her bed and slipped inside. There wasn't a television in their room, she felt it was weird to have one in such an intimate place. Instead, she had hung several of Jack's paintings up on the walls to match the dark oak furniture they had. She smiled as she looked at them, Olaf moving to curl up in her lap as she worked the brush through her hair.

Her favorite was the largest one that sat in front of the bed, he'd called it The Ice Palace and told her he'd got inspired for it after their trip to Oslo after her parents had died. She looked at the painting, always amazed at how he'd managed to give the feeling of this magnificent palace situated so carefully in the middle of a lake, or a port perhaps in the middle of winter. There were tons of pine trees surrounding the edges of the frame and the hint of mountains in an upper corner.

Olaf's paw padded against her hand, causing her to look away from the painting, moving her free hand to pet him while she finished brushing her hair. She hated to admit it, but after getting into her bed, a nap was certainly sounding like an excellent idea.

* * *

Jack shook himself awake, groaning and grabbing his leg as he looked around the fancy bedchamber he was situated in at the moment; the angry black line that ran up his leg was still there, still paining him fiercely. He was rather glad that he was somewhere safe at the moment, he wasn't sure he would be able to move his leg or fly properly.

He heard movement from outside the door and leaned to snatch up his staff, wincing as he struggled to sit up higher on the bed.

The Queen came back in, the one that had helped him inside yesterday. Elsa. She smiled at him, her blue dress sparkling in the candlelight and her snowflake cape trailing behind her as she carried a tray into the room.

"Oh good, you're awake. I was starting to get worried."

He swallowed, watching her as she set the tray down beside his leg and picked up a jar of something.

"What is that?" he asked, gesturing at it with his staff.

"Medicine that I hope helps," she answered, dipping her fingers into the jar and holding up a bright blue paste.

"You are a healer then?"

She shook her head, lowering her hand to begin dabbing it on his leg. "No, but I know some pretty powerful people who are."

He watched her nervously, not wanting to sigh aloud as the paste was cool on his hot flesh.

"Will this help?" he asked, sliding carefully higher on the bed as she dipped her fingers in for more of the medicine.

"I guess we will see."

* * *

Elsa settled down into her bed, Olaf purring happily beside her and her thoughts drifted to remembering that summer day with Jack and Jamie as they scouted for an apartment to live in, laughing at Jack's silly jokes and antics as they drove around D.C.. She'd waved off their plan to get a hotel room for the night once they'd finished their apartment scout, telling them they could stay in the spare room in the townhouse and save some money. Jamie had eagerly accepted, grinned happily while Jack quietly agreed.

They had narrowed their list of ten different places down to just two, and would be driving back up to Pennsylvania tomorrow to discuss it with their parents; until they were able to get jobs, their parents had agreed to foot their living costs, but that wouldn't last long.

Elsa had phoned her mother, making sure it was okay that they stayed the night with them, rolling her eyes and giving Helene a quick explanation of the day's events in Norwegian when her mother seemed skeptical; Apparently Anna had already informed their mother about the earlier events. After assuring her mother it was nothing, Helene agreed and the trio headed back to Georgetown and hunted for a parking space near the town house.

"Maybe I'll fix up a traditional Norwegian dinner for you two," she said, grinning at them. "You'll try Lutefisk, right?"

The boys looked at each other, grimacing.

"I'm not one for weird fish dishes," Jamie admitted, his face looking at little green around the edges.

Elsa laughed, walking up the path and opening the front door for them. A car honked on the street, causing her to look as her father's town car pulled up and the rear door opened.

"Hi papa," she said, waving to him as he stood up, straightening his suit jacket. "These are two of my friends from school, Jamie and Jack."

Otto nodded at them, extending a hand out to them as he neared and smiled at them.

"Ambassador," Jamie said, standing up straight, shaking his hand.

Otto grinned. "Elsa, you've been telling them all about me I see."

"Ambassador," Jack echoed, shaking Otto's hand as well.

"It's Otto here," Otto said, gesturing for everyone to head inside. "Helene doesn't like it when I bring my work home so I do my best not to. Don't always succeed, but I do my best."

The rest of the evening had passed with a relative calm and ease, Elsa showing Jack all of the art that they had displayed around the home to his delight, her mother filling in some of the details about the history of one of the more obscure paintings displayed in the parlor as they looked.

To both of their relief, dinner was a pork dish served with vegetables.

"Svinekoteletter," Elsa said, handing Jack a plate.

"I'm sorry?" he said, giving her a wide eyed look.

Anna laughed and Elsa smiled at him.

"It's what it's called," she said, passing the dish to him. "It's like, braised pork chops."

The American boys nodded, cautiously asking what strange looking dishes were before taking helpings onto their plates.

"Where are Kristoff and Bulda?" Anna asked, looking at the empty places at the other end of the table.

Otto held up a finger, swallowing a bite of his food.

"Bulda took him out for dinner, it's his birthday."

"Oh," Anna said, looking a little surprised. "I didn't know that."

The meal went by quickly, the boys eating much of the dishes after they had gotten a taste for the fare. Anna got up to pull out a jar of Lutefisk from the pantry to tease Jamie with before eating a slice herself.

"You just don't know what you're missing," she taunted, waving the fish in front of him.

"Anna," Helene admonished. "Don't torture the boy."

Anna giggled, getting up to help clear the table when her mother indicated, replacing the jar back into the pantry.

"I'm going to go step outside," Jamie said, pointing towards the back entrance and the small set of patio furniture set up out there. "Need to call my mom and tell her what's going on."

Jack grinned. "And Emma."

Jamie blushed, holding up his phone and made for the door, pulling it closed softly behind him. Jack wiped his mouth with his napkin, leaning back in his chair.

"Well, that was excellent. I might have to have Norwegian cuisine more often," he said, smiling at Elsa.

Helene chuckled, picking more plates up off the table.

"Elsa, did you show Jack the Renoir we have upstairs?" she asked, turning to the sink.

Jack's eyes widened, turning to look at her with delight and awe. "You have a Renoir?"

She nodded. "Come on, I'll show you."

He moved quickly out of his chair to follow her, laughing as she tripped up the stairs in her rush.

"It's a reproduction," she admitted. "But it's a very good one, done while Renoir was still alive. Possibly by the same studio that sold the actual Renoir paintings."

"Still," Jack said. "For your mother to have it in your house, it has to be good."

Elsa turned back and grinned at him.

"Yeah, she does love art. You two would get along great in a museum. You should show her some of your work!"

Jack blushed, shaking his head. "I don't know if I'm that good, Elsa."

She waved her hand, leading him into her parent's study and gesturing at the painting with a flourish.

"Volia," she said. "It's mother's favorite, probably because Anna and I used to play piano when we were younger."

Jack grinned, stepping close to look at the painting. "This is a good reproduction. Probably the best I'll see, I doubt I'll ever get to Paris to see the actual original."

"You never know," she said, stepping forward beside him. "Dreams have a way of coming true you know."

He chuckled and turned to look at her, smiling at her. "You think so?"

She nodded. "Yeah, that's what Anna always says at least."

"And what about you?" he asked her after a long moment.

She bit her lip and looked down at her hands, suddenly nervous at how close he was to her. "I-I don't know."

She felt his hand under her chin and looked up, blinking a little in surprise before she froze as he leaned in, and kissed her.

* * *

**_Alrighty, so if you haven't been able to figure it out, Jack's dream state is a manifestation of things that are happening to him. The painting in their bedroom is where he's placed himself, he's made Elsa into his caretaker because she's important to him, and the paste that she was using in this chapter is meant to show that the antibiotics the hospital is giving him are working._**

**_Hope you liked it! Please review! Love! Aria_**


	8. Chapter 8

Elsa stretched in her bed, smiling as she remembered that first kiss and rolled to face the empty space of bed next to her, feeling her smile fade off her face. They'd teased each other about the kiss before, how she'd stood there in a frozen shock after he'd pulled back and how he'd grinned at her, a blush creeping over his cheeks.

"Sorry," he'd said. "I'd been wanting to do that all day. Just seemed like I had finally got the chance to there."

It had been her turn to blush then, studdering out that she hadn't even realized that he liked her, thought he was just being extra friendly to her. He'd stood there and smiled at her, causing her to blush more before he'd pulled her into a hug.

"I want to ask you if you want to be my girlfriend," he'd said then. "But I wish I could think of a less lame way of saying it."

She'd laughed then, her nerves still on edge and cautiously nodded, smiling up at him. "Um, yeah. Yeah, I guess."

Grinning at the memory, Elsa slid out of bed and began to pull clothes out to dress herself to return to the hospital. She still teased him about that casual first proposal he'd given her, the awkward plea of a boy barely out of his teens to a clueless girl not much younger. She was still smiling when she strolled back into the living room where Anna was spooning chocolate ice cream directly from the container into her mouth.

"What's got you in such a good mood?" she asked, sticking the spoon in the box and setting it aside, smiling up at Elsa. "Good dream?"

Elsa nodded, curling her legs under her as she sat down in an armchair. "Remembering the night Jack and Jamie stayed with us in the old house, when Jack and I started dating."

Anna grinned, her eyes lighting up. "The one where he kissed you? And you pulled me into your room all nervous like after to tell me about it?"

Elsa laughed and nodded.

Anna cackled, tossing a pillow at her sister. "Oh that was a great summer, you went from "Oh he's just a friend" to lovestruck SO fast."

"Well, I didn't know-"

"I TOLD you!"

Elsa rolled her eyes, the long debated argument between the sisters continuing on. "Any word from the hospital?"

Anna nodded, picking up her phone and thumbing it on. "Yeah, Diane sent me a text a little bit ago and said that they got his latest round of labs back and they showed improvement again."

Elsa sat up straighter in her chair. "Why didn't you come to wake me up?"

Anna looked at her sympathetically. "Elsa, the doctors told us that this is a marathon he's running to get better, not a sprint. He's not going to just get better overnight. Besides, you needed the rest, it had been almost a week since you'd gotten any proper sleep."

Elsa sighed, leaning back and looking up at the ceiling, silent for a long moment.

"I know," she finally said, her voice quiet. "I just, I just want him back. I miss his jokes, his laugh."

She closed her eyes, willing herself not to cry anymore and heard Anna move off the couch beside her, feeling her sister's arms wrapping around her shoulders in a comforting embrace.

"You will soon enough," Anna said. "Three more days of this antibiotic for the infection and then they will start to bring him off the ventilator. It will be here before you know it. Then you'll have to deal with grumpy Jack that you always complain about when he's sick."

Elsa let out a laugh, bringing her arms up to hug her sister. "Thanks Anna."

"Anytime. Now, let's go get some good dinner before we head back up there? Anything sound good?"

"That ice cream looks good," Elsa said, gesturing towards the carton still perched on the couch.

Anna snickered, bending over and handing it to her sister. "Well, I was thinking of trying to get something a LITTLE more substantial. We could go to that Norwegian place over by the old house if you are feeling like some old country food."

Elsa rolled her eyes as she ate a big spoonful of ice cream. "You say old country like we're old ladies from a war torn country."

Anna flopped dramatically onto the couch, one hand resting on her forehead as she sighed. "Oh, my dear sister, but aren't we?"

Elsa giggled, moving her foot out to nudge her sister. "Stop that, you silly goose. But that does sound good. I need to feed Olaf first though."

"I got it," Anna said, standing back up and pulling the ice cream carton out of Elsa's hands. "You go finish doing whatever so we can go."

"Mmm," Elsa replied, holding up the spoon for her sister to take before climbing out of her own chair. "I'm just going to grab some magazines and maybe a book."

"Have anything to work on for the baby? Crochet maybe?"

Elsa snorted. "You were the crafty one, not me," she said, making her voice louder as she walked into the office and began to sort through periodicals and other assorted items. Elsa gathered up items to keep her busy as she heard several cabinets being opened in the kitchen, followed by an exclamation of triumph as Anna found the cat food, accompanied by excited meowing by Olaf.

Satisfied with her selections, she slid everything into a long handled bag and slung it over her shoulder, coming back to the front of the house as Anna appeared from the kitchen with a smile on her face.

"All ready then?" Anna said, holding up both of their purses from where they had been deposited earlier. Elsa nodded and they trooped out the door, heading to their dinner and back to her bedside vigil leaving the cat to guard her modern day castle.

* * *

Jack shook himself awake again, seeing the now familiar fixtures around him in the bedchamber he'd been sleeping in. And once again he heard the Queen's familiar footsteps out in the hall as she came into the room, carrying the same tray as she always did and smiled at him.

He did have to admit that his leg was hurting less, and he was able to move it a little more now. At least, he thought it hurt less. He was still so tired, so exhausted all the time from whatever spell Pitch at cursed him with.

"Good morning," she told him, picking up the jar of blue paste and starting to dab it along the black line running up Jack's leg.

"Hi," he said. "How-how long have I been here?"

"Almost a week," she replied in that calm neutral voice she always spoke with, still carefully applying the paste to his wound.

"A week?" he said, sitting up quickly and wincing when he did.

She looked up at him, surprised and pushed him back down. "Yes, you've been quite ill. These things take time."

"But, you don't understand," he said. "Pitch, Pitch is out there. I need to warn the others. He might try to attack-"

"Shhh, Guardian," she said, resting her hand on his chest. "All is well outside, you should worry about your own health."

Jack stared at her, frowning and looked down at his leg as she moved to continue applying the salve. Did she mean that he was the only one that was targeted? Did the others even know where he was?

He swallowed, determined to do whatever it took to not let Pitch win this fight.

* * *

Elsa waved goodbye to her sister as Anna dropped her off at the entrance to the hospital, several bags draped over her arm as she trudged inside to relieve her mother-in-law of her bedside vigil. The sterile halls, overhead calls and mechanical beeps of the hospital were becoming a second nature to Elsa now after spending so much time there over the last week as she navigated the hall to the correct elevator, smiling at an elderly couple that passed while she waited for the doors to open.

She rode up to the correct floor with a group of nurses holding containers from the lunchroom, all of them talking about their plans for their next day off or what they had done on their last day off. She stood quietly back as they bustled off before her, turning to go in the opposite direction of the ICU that Jack was stationed on.

She smiled again at the nurses at the nursing station when she walked onto the unit, glancing up at the big whiteboard to see who would be caring for Jack that evening, relieved to see that Shane was back from being off the previous night. While none of the nurses that had taken care of Jack were rude or bad, she did admit to having her favorites.

Sam's tall form was standing at the computer terminal by Jack's bed when she came into the room, pointing out figures to Diane while Pippa sat looking on her phone in a chair. He glanced up and smiled at her as she slid her bags under the counter to keep the out of the way.

"Hello there Mrs. Elsa," he said, his smooth proper accent making her smile. "You are looking lovely, went home for a little while?"

She nodded, rubbing her arms in the colder room and nodded at Diane. "Hi," she said. "And yes, went and had a nap, and a shower and a nice meal with my sister."

Diane nodded, moving to wrap an arm around her shoulders. "You needed it, we can't have you both getting sick on us. Especially since Pippa and I have to go back soon."

"I was just going over Jack's lab results with Diane," Sam said, gesturing to the computer screen. "I don't mind telling you as well."

Elsa nodded, giving an apologetic look at her mother-in-law. "Yes, please."

Diane squeezed her shoulders again while Sam began to explain the number values to her in that calm, even tone of his, the machines helping Jack steadily running and beeping behind him as he spoke.

Some hours later, after Diane and Pippa had left to go back to the house for the evening and the nurses had changed shifts for the night, Elsa sat in her chair alone in the room with Jack, thumbing casually through one of her magazines. She had paused from time to time to read out an article, or to laugh about some bit of celebrity news to him, imagining his sardonic response that he would usually give to her gossip columns.

She stopped on one page, a smile spreading across her face as she looked at the full page advert for a home hair dye opposite fall fashion tips. She giggled, folding the page over and held it up for him to see.

"I don't know what you're going to do about your hair love, I don't think you're going to be able to dye it in the hospital," she said, smiling up at him. "You know I was thinking earlier about when we first started dating, I think that was one of the first big shocks that I got. Do you remember? Oh I'm sure that you do, you were mortified."

* * *

The summer had passed quickly, with Elsa spending every bit of her free time with Jack as she helped them move into their new apartment close to campus, or sat doing her summer class work in the coffee shop that he'd been able to get a job in. Before she had known it, the summer's hot months were drawing to a close and the fall semester was beckoning it's start.

She had volunteered to be a resident assistant again, admitting silently to herself that she had liked having a room to herself a little too much to not do it again. Jack had returned the favor of helping her move in by carrying box after box of clothes and books into her small room, teasing her that she'd never actually use everything. He'd also surprised her by carefully hanging a painting of flowers up on her wall that she had seen him working on a few weeks earlier.

"These will last longer than real ones," he said, grinning at her.

She'd hugged him, smiling up at the bright burst of color that decorated the dull white wall before looking up at him in confusion as he fumbled in his pocket, cursing under his breath as he struggled to pull whatever it was out. Finally, he held up a silver key, grinning at her as he held it out for her.

"Ta-da," he said, placing it in her palm. "Now you can come over whenever."

She'd smiled up at him, hugging him again.

"Why now?" she asked, pulling back to grab her keys and feed the new key onto a keychain.

He grinned at her, shrugging his shoulders up slightly. "Jamie gave Emma one, so I thought it might be nice for you to have one too. Then you can just come over whenever and hang out, or let yourself in if I don't hear the door if I'm working on something."

She turned and gave him a smirk at the last part.

"I know, I know," he said. "I said I was sorry for that. I really didn't hear you knocking."

"Well, thank you," she said, setting her keys back down. "I'll be sure to use it."

He smiled at her, stepping over and pulling her close to him for a kiss, both of them jumping as someone banged against her door out the hall, the sounds of male laughter and running indicating boys playing in the hall.

Jack rolled his eyes. "Freshmen."

Elsa laughed, leaning up on her toes to peck him on the cheek. "I need to get to work, you remember what the first week is like from last year."

He sighed, nodding and stepped away. "Don't be a stranger."

The rest of the week had been busy, like she had predicted, full of students moving in, crying freshmen as they realized they were on their own now and organization of her own as she prepared for her own classes. Between all of her responsibilities and getting ready for classes, and his work schedule and also getting ready for classes, they weren't able to see each other until the middle of the next week.

Jack waved at her from his sprawled position on the grass before the library, sunglasses and baseball cap shading his eyes from the harsh sunlight as he stood up, swinging his backpack over one shoulder. He slid an arm around her waist, bending down to give her a quick kiss as she came over to him.

"I'm all done for the day," he said, taking the stack of books she already had collected and tucking them under his opposite arm. "What about you?"

"Just one more, history class with Dr. Hardgrave, my favorite professor."

He grinned down at her. "Wanna come over and hang out when you're done? I've hardly seen you all week."

"Sure," she said. "I should be a couple hours, Tuesday/Thursday class but I'll come over when it's done."

He nodded, hugging her again. "Want me to take anything with me, other than your miniature library?"

She laughed and shook her head. "No, I'll be fine. I'll see you later."

He grinned and walked away, her library books still tucked under his arm as she turned to walk towards the liberal arts building for her class.

Her class had let out very early, the professor going over the syllabus for the class and then dismissing everyone with over half of the class time still available. Elsa had been thrilled, practically running from campus to Jack's apartment just a couple blocks away, done for the day and happy to be able to spend time with him.

She skipped up the two flights of stairs to their door, working her set of keys out of her pocket and letting herself in, calling his name as she closed the door and set her own backpack beside his on their well-loved sofa.

Music was playing loudly in the back of the apartment, she rolled her eyes thinking that he must be working on another art project and didn't hear him.

"Jack?" she called, walking towards the back of the apartment and stopping when she heard him humming in the bathroom, the door only half shut. "Jack?"

She saw him jump, pulling the door open and smile at her.

"Hey, you're here early," he said, moving his hands nervously.

He was standing in the jeans that he'd been wearing earlier, but with no shirt on, and a towel draped around his shoulders; A clear shower cap covered his head and his hair looked damp under it. A box of hair dye lay discarded on the bathroom counter, the various contents strewn across the sink.

She looked up at him, feeling a smile tug at the edges of her mouth as she fought desperately not to laugh.

"You," she started, wetting her lips to try and not laugh again. "You dye your hair?"

He scowled, crossing his arms over his bare chest.

"Well, not all of us are born with perfect blonde hair. And," he said, turning to glance in the mirror. "I look better with blonde hair than brown."

Elsa giggled, moving a hand up to cover her mouth as she fought harder not to laugh. Her giggles burst forward and she began to laugh, shooting him an apologetic look as she bent over laughing.

He worked hard to continue to scowl before he also started to laugh.

"It's my one vanity, okay?" he said, poking at her.

"One?" she countered. "One? You have more jewelry than I do."

"That's because I've made it!" he cried out, pulling the towel from around his shoulders and throwing it on her.

His phone buzzed with an alarm and he stuck his tongue out at her. "I need to shower now, get this all out of my hair. Go, read or something. You weren't supposed to see this!"

She giggled and tossed the towel back at him, turning to walk back to the sofa while clutching her sides from laughing.

Jamie walked in shortly after she'd sat herself down, raising a curious brow at her continuing giggles when she grinned up at him.

"He dyes his hair," she'd said in a whisper, laughing after she'd said it.

Jamie grinned. "I thought he'd have told you by now. You caught him doing it?"

Jamie sounded excited, his eyes lighting up as he looked down the hall at the closed bathroom door. Elsa nodded, giggling again.

"Oh come here, he hates it when I do this," Jamie said, pulling his phone from his pocket and thumbing through a few pages as she jumped off the couch, following him down the hall.

Jamie paused outside of the bathroom door, holding up his phone to the closed door as the strains of a song began to play out. Elsa frowned listening to it, before she giggled again, recognizing Carly Simon's "You're So Vain" playing. Jack opened the door, a towel wrapped around his waist and another draped across his head and glared at the both of them.

"I hate you both," he said, sidestepping them both and going into his room, closing the door hard behind him.

"Love you too bud!" Jamie called after him, laughing as he turned up the volume on the song. Elsa dissolved into laughter.

* * *

**_Hope you enjoyed it, please review! Love, Aria_**


	9. Chapter 9

The next three days passed quickly, quietly and with Elsa falling into a bit of a routine of her own as Anna forced her to leave the hospital for a few hours to get a meal, or a shower, or a nap. She bought new magazines and purchased some new baby books that she began to read aloud to Jack; she was still skeptical that he was hearing anything but it made her feel better at least.

Diane and Pippa had left on the first of the three days, Pippa needing to return to her classes with assurances from Elsa that she would send updates frequently. Diane promised to come back down to see them as soon as they could, holding Jack's hand for a long moment before tearfully kissing his forehead and heading out to their cab waiting to take them to the airport.

Anna had forced her to come out the second day, unrelenting in her insistence that Elsa come with her as they drove the long distance from Baltimore to Annapolis. (A/n: About an hour and a half depending on traffic)

"Why Annapolis?" she finally asked her younger sister, breaking the long silence as they turned off the interstate and down another road to lead them closer to the harbor.

Anna gave her a soft smile and reached over to squeeze her hand. "It's mom's birthday."

Elsa stiffened, her breath catching as she turned her shocked face to her sister. "I-I forgot, just with Jack and-everything," she stammered, a wave of guilt passing over her.

"I know," Anna said, placing her hand back on the steering wheel. "That's why I insisted on us coming today. Do what we do every year, you know?"

"You got the flowers?" Elsa asked softly, turning to look in the seat behind them.

"Yep," Anna said, turning down a road. "It's a beautiful day, she must have known we were coming."

Elsa smiled at her before turning to look back out the window, remembering the last time she saw their parents.

* * *

She had done it. They had done it. Graduation day. Elsa beamed as she stood in line, alphabetically, to receive her diploma with the various colored cords around her neck designating her honorary status and various honorary societies that she had joined over her college years. Jamie and Jack had already crossed the stage, each taking a momentary pause with the Dean of the college for a photograph.

She turned and looked again, trying to find her family in the massive crowd of the huge auditorium when she spotted Anna jumping and waving her arms madly from one corner of a balcony. She gave a little finger wave as the line steadily moved forward towards the stage, anxiously awaiting her turn to cross the stage. Then she was the next in line, staring at the steps and willing herself not to trip in her heels as she heard her name called and stepped up, concentrating on walking as the announcer read off her majors and major academic achievements.

"Excellent work," the Dean told her, offering out his hand for her to take as they turned to pose for their pictures, the university sleeve for her diploma sliding into her hand as he did so.

She smiled, beaming as this moment, this photograph with the Dean captured her achievement, all her hard work from the last few years. After a few moments he relaxed, the queue for her to move on across the stage and down the stairs on the other end, gratefully taking the offered hand by a man standing there. She worked her way back to her seat, glancing back up to the corner her family was in to see them all waving back at her, smiling and cheering for her.

The rest of the ceremony had been agony, wanting to go and celebrate with her family, with Jack, with Jamie and all her other friends. Her parents had organized a huge graduation party for the three of them at the house, since most of Jack and Jamie's family lived up in Pennsylvania; their parties were planned for the next days but tonight was hers. She clutched at the diploma case and grinned, clapping her hands in giddy excitement. She was so happy.

She wove her way through the crowd of graduates after the ceremony had finally ended, shouting at Jack when she spotted him and running at him, throwing herself in his arms with a laugh. He caught her, lifting her up high with a laugh of his own and smiled up at her, his black graduation cap leaning askew.

"Well, now all the work is FINALLY done," he said. "Ready for some fun for a couple weeks?"

She grinned. "Yes, definitely. I think we've certainly earned it!"

"Smile!" Elsa heard Helene's voice shout, and turned to she her mother holding up her camera as Jack still held her in the air. Jack laughed again, hoisting her up high again as Anna clapped with merriment. He set her down, setting an arm over her shoulder as she adjusted her dress under her shapeless black graduation gown before smiling back up at her family.

"Excellent job," her father said, smiling down at her. "We're very proud of you."

Some of their friends had found them then, shouting and laughing that they'd finished and then Jack's family found them. The blur of all of the people during the aftermath of the graduation swept by as people came and went, the families were separated, met up again and split again to head back to the house for the party.

Back in her room at her parent's house with Jack, Elsa moaned aloud as she kicked her heels off, causing him to give her a bemused look.

"Careful now," he said, pulling off his tie and unbuttoning his dress shirt. "People will talk."

"Oh I don't care," she said, sitting down on the edge of the bed to massage her feet. "Why did I wear those things, they bloody hurt!"

"Oh, I actually have a prepared answer for this. You told me that they were "freaking adorable"," he said, using finger quotes.

She glared up at him.

He grinned down at her, pulling off the dress shirt and tossing it aside, flopping down onto the bed beside her.

"I'm not taking you shopping anymore," she said, leaning back onto his chest.

He made a fistpump in the air. "Victory is MINE!"

She turned and jabbed his stomach, causing him to laugh.

"So, how many outfits will you be going through before deciding to wear the dress you have on now for the graduation party?" he asked, grabbing one of her hands and threading her fingers through his.

"Jack!" she cried out, laughing a little despite herself.

"What?" he said. "Love, you went to 25 different stores over 3 weeks to find that thing. You're honestly telling me that the only time you're going to wear it is under the graduation gown? *I* didn't suffer through that much shopping for it to be worn only for that."

She laughed again, rolling to her side to face him. "Oh, so this is about you now?"

"Well," he said, smirking at her. "Isn't everything eventually?"

She gave him a mock gasp of disgust, grabbing a pillow to smack into his face as they both laughed.

"Elsa! Jack! Guests will be arriving soon!" Helene's voice called up to them.

Elsa sighed, leaning up to give him a quick peck on the lips. "Come on, get your shirt on. And not a T-shirt."

"Yeah, yeah," Jack said, clamboring off the bed behind her. "Serious people and all that."

She snorted. "Serious people that will be seeing YOUR art."

He rolled his eyes. "Like they will pay any attention to it."

Elsa's parents had taken down all of the works downstairs and hung up various pieces that Jack had done and also set out a display of jewelry that he had done, through much coaxing from Elsa. Her parents had invited several of their friends who were interested in art, telling them that Jack was a recently graduated art student.

Jack had scoffed the whole time when her parents had brought up the idea of showing his work at the graduation party, but she knew he was more than a little nervous too. He'd spent more than a few sleepless nights working on the pieces that now hung proudly on the walls downstairs, hoping to catch someone's eye.

She glared back down at her heels, kicking them with her toe as she considered. They were black, with a small teal bow on them that matched the teal in her dress perfectly. She wasn't even sure how she'd managed to find shoes that matched the color so precise. Her dress was a beautifully fit teal work that fit her perfectly, with a jewel neckline embellished with small teal stones. There was a wide black band around the center of the dress, breaking up the massive blocks of teal as well. Her long blonde hair was pulled up, tiny wisps of hair floating down from the knot at the back of her head.

"Go pick out ones without the heel," he said, pulling a light blue polo shirt over his head. "You know we're going to be standing for hours at this thing."

"Party," she corrected, still glaring at the shoes. "But they're so pretty."

"Yeah, and you won't be able to stand tomorrow at MY party," he said, nudging her. "Go, I know you have them. You only have six million shoes."

She smirked at him, turning to her closet and pulling open the doors, looking for a pair of shoes to go with her dress. "Only three million, thank you. You have to buy the other three."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, it's in the boyfriend agreement, didn't you read it?"

"Apparently I missed that clause," he said, chuckling. "I got something for you, by the way."

She grabbed a pair of flats, turning around to face him as she fixed them on her feet. "You did?"

He grinned at her, pulling a long, thin box from his pocket. "Yeah, graduation and all that."

She smiled at him, coming over to him, eye glancing down at the box and then back up at him. "Yeah, what is it?"

"Open it," he said, offering it to her.

She took it, biting her lower lip as she worked it open. Inside, on a delicate silver chain lay a silver snowflake pendant, decorated with tiny sapphires and diamonds. She gasped, looking up at him with a smile.

"Jack, did you?"

He smiled and shook his head. "No, not my handiwork. Not yet at least. Let's wait until I perfect things a little more before you start modeling things. No this," he said, taking the box back to take the necklace out and thread it around her neck for her. "I wanted to be made by someone who loved what they were doing, then I could buy it, and give it as someone who loves you, very much."

She smiled at him, her hand coming to rest on the snowflake as his arms wrapped around her waist. She leaned her head back, angling to allow him to kiss her.

Downstairs, the doorbell rang, sounding it's shrill alarm that the aforementioned guests had begun to arrive.

She pulled back and sighed. "Alas, there is our call."

"Yeah, yeah," he said, giving her another quick kiss. "Let's go get this over with."

The party had been a fun, successful event as various family friends had stopped to congratulate Elsa on finishing her degree, gifting her with thick envelopes stuffed with money and celebratory cards. Friends that she, Jack and Jamie had made over the years stopped by as well, laughing and hugging each other with palpable relief now that final exams were over, and their long awaited diplomas were tucked safely away. Elsa traded email addresses and phone numbers, making sure she had contact numbers for people as she milled about the crowd.

Anna was the first to notice her necklace, dragging her aside to admire it.

"Why a snowflake though?" she asked, leaning in close to look at the pendant. "It's May, not winter."

"His last name is Frost, Anna," Elsa said, leaning her chin up high to allow Anna to look at the necklace. "He kinda has a thing for winter related things because of it. I think it's fun."

"And," Anna prompted looking up at her with a grin.

"And what?" Elsa said, stepping back and lowering her head back to it's normal position.

"And what are you not telling me? Come on, tell me!"

Elsa sighed, blushing a little. "And, he calls me his snowflake."

Anna clapped her hands together, making a high pitched squeal of pleasure as she did so.

"That's so adorable, you both are so adorable."

Elsa chuckled. "You gonna be okay this next few days alone here?"

Anna waved a hand. "I'll be fine. Besides, Kristoff will be wherever he goes to if I REALLY need company. You go, have fun. Then we will have fun when mom and dad get back from the conference."

Bulda had left that morning, giving Elsa a huge hug before they had left for the graduation ceremony to leave for the airport to catch her flight to Switzerland for the conference her father would be attending as Ambassador. Her parents had chartered a private plane that would be leaving very early tomorrow morning to get them in just in time for the dinner that started off the summit. This party was the fun celebration after the graduation, but they had also promised to take them all on a trip once they got back, Helene refusing to tell Elsa what was planned. Elsa was excited to get to spend time with her family, and Jack, in such a fun and relaxed setting.

Two weeks for the conference, and a little recovery time, and then they would be off to wherever was planned.

Jack's night was a success as well, his mother and sister watched happily as his various works of art were praised and commented on by all the various guests. Jack smiled politely at first, taking the praise of his work with a gracious nod to the well dressed family friends. Several of their college friends raved over his jewelry, the enamel covered pieces leaving the small display box as they gave him farewell hugs and wished him luck in his endeavors as an artist. He grinned at Elsa, holding up the small amounts of money each of the pieces earned.

"See?" she asked him, hugging his arm. "I told you people would like your work tonight."

He smirked at her, moving his arm to wrap it around her shoulders and pull her close into him, kissing the top of her head. "Yes, you were right."

"Elsa!"

They turned to see a well dressed older man walking towards them, smiling widely as he stopped before them.

"Oh, hello Tobias," Elsa said, smiling back. "Jack, this is Tobias Berntsen, he works with father at the embassy."

Jack moved his arm to hold it out to shake with Tobias. "Hello," he said, smiling at the older man.

"Ah, Jack! You must be the artist that Otto was telling me about that was dating Elsa."

Jack smiled. "That's me."

"Excellent! Tell me about that piece over there on the wall, the one with the little girl in the window."

Jack blinked at him, stuttering for a moment. "Uh, yeah. Yeah, it's one of mine. Well, it's," he swallowed, turning to walk over to the painting with Elsa and Tobias trailing behind him.

"The window seat is actually up in Elsa's room, and I really like it. I could see someone of all ages sitting on it, in any year, just watching everything going past outside. So I thought it would be neat to make this little girl, staring out her window and imagining all the wonderful things that might be happening outside."

The painting depicted a young girl, maybe 6 or 7, with unruly blonde hair fighting a blonde braid in her pajamas looking out the huge bay window seat. All of her children's books were scattered open on the floor, some of them painted carefully open on the floor, and a couple of stuffed animals laying with them. Outside of the window, against the blackness of the night sky, there were bright golden figures of planes, and balloons, and various animals playing in the background. The little girl's hands were pressed against the glass, as she tried to get closer to the outside action.

Jack waved his hand around the painting as he explained each of the elements, explaining some of the methods that he used to make it come to life and various references. Tobias nodded along, smiling at him as he paid close attention to Jack's explanation. Several other people had crowded around as well, silently listening as Jack talked.

"What is it titled?" Tobias asked, as Jack quieted, his expressive hands settling at his sides.

Jack smiled. "Dreams of Childhood."

Tobias smiled, nodding again. "I have a granddaughter about to be born," he said. "I think this would be perfect for her room. I know her mother has been looking for a nice piece of art to put in the room."

Jack turned a stunned face to Tobias, his mouth working in silence for a few moments as Tobias worked in his jacket to remove a checkbook and pen.

"How much are you asking for it?" Tobias asked, flipping to a blank check and looking up at Jack.

"I-I, uh," Jack stammered, staring at Tobias still. "I hadn't thought about it, I didn't actually expect to sell anything tonight, to be perfectly honest."

Tobias chuckled, moving his pen across the check. "What's your last name?"

"Frost," Jack said, glancing back up at the piece.

Tobias looked up at him. "Jack Frost?"

Jack grinned at him. "That's me," he said, watching as Tobias moved the pen up and down for his signature and tore the check off the pad.

"Is this acceptable?" Tobias asked, still smiling at Jack as he held out the slip of paper.

Jack glanced up at him before taking the check and glancing at it, his jaw dropping at the amount listed and his knees buckling a little as he gasped.

"Sir, no, I," he gasped out, trying to hand the check back to him. "That's more than I would have asked. I'm, I'm just fresh out of school."

Elsa glanced down, feeling her own eyes widen at the amount listed; Five thousand dollars.

Tobias pushed the check back at him. "Nonsense. This is a wonderful piece you've done, and," he reached into his coat pocket again and pulled out a business card. "In fact, let me know when you get set up. I'd love to see what you do in the future. Besides, I know the money will help you GET set up, so it's really a benefit for us both."

Jack smiled widely, staring down at the check before turning to glance back at the painting. Elsa stepped over and hugged him.

"Your first real sale," she said, kissing his cheek. "How does it feel?"

He was silent for a long moment before taking a deep breath. "Amazing. Unforgettable. Justifying. So many other words that I can't describe right now," he said.

Anna bounced over to the painting, carrying an index card and carefully slid it into the frame, her flowy writing in black ink crisp against the white cardstock claiming the painting was now "sold." Anna turned and hugged Jack and Elsa together.

"Congrats Jack," she said. "One down, a lifetime more to go!"

* * *

The car stopped, jolting Elsa out of her daydream, causing her to jerk in her seat. She glanced over at Anna, who was giving her a concerned look.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Elsa said. " Just, daydreaming."

"Good things I hope," Anna said, opening her car door and sliding out.

"Jack selling his painting at the graduation party, the one Tobias bought?"

"Oh! The one with the little girl? I really liked that one," Anna said, opening the door to the back seat and pulling out a large cloth bag before closing both doors.

Elsa smiled. "Yeah, I did too. It went to a good home though."

"He made out like a bandit that night," Anna said, as they both stepped forward to walk from the parking lot. "Food first?"

Elsa nodded. "Yeah, he worked for months on all those paintings though. He was so proud that they sold. I was proud of him, and Diane. I think she'd been still skeptical that he could make a living before that night."

"I think making twenty grand in a night would change anyone's mind," Anna muttered, hitching the bag higher up on her arm.

Elsa gave her an annoyed look.

"Yeah, yeah, proud of him, proud of himself. I get that. Money is important too though, you can't deny that. That's what pays for art supplies and rent," Anna said, pointing at Elsa.

Elsa sighed, looking up at the cloudy sky and hoping that it wasn't about to rain on them. "Did you make reservations?"

"At 2pm on a Wednesday? No," Anna replied sardonically. "We're going to be like the only people there."

Elsa shook her head as Anna skipped forward. Some things never changed.

* * *

Jack shook himself awake in the large bed as he had so many days before. How long had he been in this castle? Days? Weeks? Months? He'd lost track of so much time. Damn Pitch for doing this to him. Were the others looking for him? Were they worried about him?

He struggled to force himself to sit up on the bed, his leg still paining him but he did have to admit it felt considerably better than it did when he first arrived. He waited for her footsteps out in the hall. And waited.

They didn't come. Silence met him.

He swallowed the lump of worry that rose in his throat, glancing down at the ugly dark line that still ran up his leg. Maybe she was behind in whatever else she was doing, or had to go get more of the medicine. He reached a cautious hand down to the dark sand, carefully rubbing at it.

It came away from his leg. He gaped as the dark particles fell to the bedclothes like spent shells. He rubbed again at the dark line, more of the sand coming off as he did so. He continued this all down his leg, smiling as the sand fell away from him.

He held his leg up again when he was done, examining it. The dark line was still there, the particles still clustered together tightly in their jagged pattern, but there was less of it; tiny patches of white skin peaked through in spots.

He was winning against whatever foul magic Pitch had laid on him.

He set his leg back down, looking around the room as he waited for her to come in to see him. He fiddled with his thumbs, spun his staff around and attempted to reach everything within staff's reach of his bedside.

She still didn't come to his room, still no sounds of footsteps out in the hall. Now he was getting worried. She was never late, she was always there. He needed to find her.

Slowly, carefully, he sat up fully and then swung his legs over the side of the bed; it was strange to feel the flagstones under his feet for the first time in so many days. Using his staff as a crutch, he levered himself up, slowly putting more and more weight on his left leg.

Satisfied he wasn't going to fall over, he turned to look at the door. One step down, now time to find her.

* * *

They had done this every year since their parents had died, it had been Anna's idea. Every year, on their mother's birthday, the sisters would come here, to Annapolis, and eat at their mother's favorite restaurant. They fondly recalled memories of their childhood, and pondered over what she might think if she saw them now.

Now, they walked slowly along the path of the harbor as they worked their way to a secluded spot, away from the walking historical tours and pub crawl patrons. This part was the hardest. They held hands, ignoring the strange looks they occasionally got from passing locals; it was too hard of a day for them to worry about others passing judgement.

They came to the harbor, with a bouquet of flowers that they would lay, flower by flower into the water, for their mother, because her true grave was the ocean. Otto and Helene Sandvik had a beautiful headstone in Norway, and another beautiful memorial in D.C. that Elsa visited often, but their plane had crashed at sea that fateful morning.

* * *

Elsa and Jack had left to drive up to Pennsylvania late the next morning, Jack's party was scheduled for that evening. Diane and Pippa had left the night before, as had Jamie and his family. Elsa, Jack, and Anna had stayed up late to celebrate Jack's success in selling his artworks, the places on the walls where they had hung looking strangely bare now. Helene had happily snapped pictures of Jack with each buyer next to each of the paintings, insisting that Jack would be happy that she did someday.

They had still been awake early in the morning to see her parents off as they left for the airport for their own flight for the conference. Hugs were passed around as the children climbed upstairs for bed, and the parents carried their luggage down to the waiting taxi.

"See you in a week!" Anna called, leaning out the window she opened on the second level to wave at the departing car.

Elsa laughed, patting her sister's shoulder. "I'll see YOU later this week, Jack and I are leaving likely before you get up."

"Okay! Have fun up in Burgess."

The drive had been four and a half hours of of uneventful traffic, trees and road work, as they chatted about various plans for the summer, and after. They laughed along to a comedy CD that Jack found in the center console, pledging to go see the comedian if they ever came to the area.

Elsa sighed in relief as the exit for Burgess neared, stretching her arms out in front of her, ready to be out of the car. Jack teased her, knowing that she'd sat far longer on a plane more than once in recent years.

"It's different when you know you can just pull over any time and get out," she said, looking at him. "You'll see. I'm betting mom and dad have plans to take us to Europe."

Jack quirked a brow. "I don't have a passport."

Elsa gave him a pointed look. "Knowing dad he already has that taken care of."

Jack snorted. "You mean BULDA does."

Elsa laughed. "Well, yeah, Bulda."

He navigated the car along, turning down the main road and then down side roads before finally turning into the small driveway of his mom's house. They both popped their doors open, groaning as they stretched their legs out. Grabbing their bags from the car, they tromped inside, smiling and hugging Diane and Pippa as they came into the house. Everything was decorated for Jack's graduation, complete with tiny graduation cap garlands and embarrassing childhood photos.

Jack smirked at several, pointing them out to her before they weaved through the house back to his room, setting their bags down.

"I need to use the bathroom," Elsa said, turning to walk back down the hall as her phone started to ring. "Answer that for me? It's probably just Anna wanting to know if we made it okay."

Jack chuckled. "Just because I wrecked one car doesn't mean I'm a bad driver. And it totally wasn't my fault."

Elsa laughed, shutting the door.

She emerged a few minutes later, her hair primped and feeling a little better after the long car ride to hear his soft voice from the room.

"Yeah, I'll-I'll tell her, you call Anna and talk to her. I'll, I'm with Elsa," he said, glancing up at her with sad eyes as she entered the room.

He pulled her phone down from his ear and pressed the end call button, looking at the phone like it had just told him the worst thing in the world.

"Jack, what-what's wrong? What is it?"

He tossed the phone onto the bed and stepped forward to wrap her tightly in a hug. A cold chill of dread ran down her spine.

"Jack," she said, her voice trembling. "Jack, tell me."

He pulled back, worrying her more when she saw the tears in his own eyes.

"Elsa," he said, placing his hands firmly on her shoulders. "That-that was Bulda on the phone. There," he swallowed, glancing up at the ceiling. "There was an accident. And your parents plane crashed. And, Elsa, I'm so sorry, there weren't any survivors."

She stared up at him, her whole body going numb as her brain slowly processed the words. She felt her knees collapse, her hands shaking as she felt her world crashing down around her. She screamed, feeling Jack wrapping his arms around her tightly as she screamed and cried. Her parents were dead.

* * *

They stopped walking along the edge of the water, stopped at a small stone bench that sat close to the edge of the water before the paved path turned into a muddy muck of mud and water. They stood silently looking out at the harbor for a long moment, not moving and still clutching hands as they both had their memories.

Anna spoke first, turning her head up to the sky with a teary smile. "Hi mom."

Elsa smiled, looking up to the heavens as well. "Hi mom," she echoed, swiping her hand under her eyes.

Anna shifted beside her, pulling a plastic wrapped bundle out of her cloth bag and peeling the plastic away to reveal the bouquet of roses, lilies and arctic violets; the latter was Helene's favorite.

The sisters shifted forward on the path, their toes hanging over the edge and each selected one of the violets, tossing them into the water.

"Happy Birthday mom," they each whispered, watching as the flowers floated gently on the water.

One by one they tossed the rest of the flowers into the water, watching as the blossoms mingled with each other and slowly washed further and further out of the harbor with the small waves.

The flowers gone, Anna shoved the plastic back into her bag and turned to wrap her sister up in a hug, sobbing.

They stood there for several long minutes, remembering and missing their lost mother as the water lapped gently against the path under them, the soft scent of flowers mingling with tang of sea spray and fish.

Slowly they turned and began to make their way back to their car, leaving their small memorial behind them.

"We should get back to Jack," Anna said, her voice raw from her emotions.

Elsa nodded. "Yes," she agreed, clearing her own voice. "They said they might remove the ventilator tonight if he handled whatever test well enough today."

Anna squeezed her hand. "That's good news at least."

Elsa smiled at her as they walked back, hand in hand, to their car.

* * *

Jack carefully walked along the halls of the palace, cursing under his breath as he encountered locked doors and dead ends. He tried flying, only to crash down heavily. He couldn't find her anywhere, and he couldn't find his way out of the labyrinth of this palace. He slammed his staff into the ground, bolts of frost shooting out in several directions and a vase of flowers shattering behind him. He winced, looking sheepishly behind him.

He had to keep calm, if Pitch had taken her then he would have made himself known; he was much too prideful to let anything he did go unnoticed.

He began to move forward again, checking more doors and groaning as they too were locked.

She had to be here somewhere.

* * *

Elsa hugged Anna at the front of the hospital, smiling as her sister turned to leave.

"Sure you don't want me to come up with you for a little bit?" Anna asked, glancing up at the tall tower.

Elsa smiled. "Go home and be with your family. It's a tough day today. I'll be fine, I need to call Diane anyways."

Anna hugged her again. "Call me if you need anything, okay? I should be up late."

Elsa nodded, pushing Anna's arms. "Go on, the girls will be waiting for you!"

Anna held up her arms in surrender. "I'm going, I'm going. Love you sis."

"Love you too," Elsa said, turning to walk into the building and weaving through the halls.

There was a small crowd of nursing staff in Jack's room when she arrived, causing her to furrow her brow.

"Everything okay?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest as she stepped close.

Mari turned around, her brightly colored scrubs and make up cheery in the dull hospital setting.

"Great!" she said, smiling up at Elsa. "Jack responded great to everything today. Respiratory is taking out the the ventilator right now!"

The small nurse stepped behind Elsa and pulled the curtain to shut the room off from the rest of the unit.

"Oops," she muttered. "You might not want to see this, it's rather impressive."

Elsa glanced down at her. "Impressive?"

Mari swallowed. "Well, I just hope you aren't too squeamish."

Elsa looked back up, seeing the team of medical staff in mint green scrubs surrounding Jack working together as they laid him back flat on his back. First the main machine was disconnected and turned off, the room turning into a strange silence without the constant mechanical breaths from it. One of the team members pulled the brakes off the machine and pulled it out of the way, giving them more room to work.

Jack arms worked against the ties, unconsciously trying to pull the tubes from his throat again.

"His throat is going to be really dry," Mari commented. "We have to wean them back onto full drinks of water. He probably isn't going to like that."

Elsa shook her head, still watching as the team removed the band that had kept the various tubes in place for the ventilator. The vitals on Jack's machine began to climb a little. All that remained was the small tube leading into Jack's mouth and down into his lungs.

"That's normal," Mari told her when Elsa shifted beside her. "They will have that out in a few moments. I asked for Kiersten and her team, she's the best."

Elsa gave another nervous nod, watching as the small blonde haired woman knelt over Jack's head and began to carefully pull the tube out of his mouth. And pulled. And pulled. Elsa stared on, feeling her jaw open as nearly a foot long tube was removed from his mouth and set aside. The woman picked up another device with a long thin black tube on the end that had a small light and threaded it into Jack's mouth, one of the other team members holding Jack's mouth open for her as she looked through the opposite end of the device.

"She's checking to see if there was any damage to his throat from the tube," Mari explained.

Apparently satisfied, the woman stood up and pulled the device out and the team gathered up everything, wheeling the large ventilator out of the room. The blonde woman, presumably Kiersten, stopped and smiled at Elsa before turning her attention to Mari.

"I'm leaving Sean here, to make sure that the patient doesn't go into respiratory distress. Everything looks great, all of the tests were excellent from today but, you know how I am, better safe than sorry."

Mari nodded. "Thanks."

The man staying behind was placing a stethoscope on Jack's chest, listening to him breathing. He was a tall, lean man with short dark hair. He smiled at the small group of women as they looked at him.

"Just give me a call if you have any issues, but I think you'll be fine. He looks to be doing really good."

Mari nodded. "Thanks Kiersten."

Elsa walked over to Jack's bedside, smiling when she noticed that Sean was removing the ties that bound Jack's wrists down.

"You can take that one off," he told her, gesturing to the one closest to her.

She fumbled with the strap, fumbling with the knot before he came over and undid it with a few simple twists.

"Sorry, I do these all day so they are just second nature to me now," he said, grinning at her. "I think we put your chair over there," he continued, gesturing to the far wall. "We need space when we work on patients in case something goes wrong. I'll be out at the nurse's station, shout if you need something, otherwise I'll be in to check on him occasionally."

She nodded, smiling up at him. He gave her a mock salute and left the room, carrying the ties with him.

She found her chair, pulling it back to it's position next to Jack and fluffed his pillows under his neck. Settling down in her chair, she slid her hand into his and squeezed it.

"Jack," she said, looking up at him. "Time to wake up now love. You've been asleep for far too long now."

She nearly jumped when his hand twitched in her grasp. She grinned up at him.

"Jack," she breathed.

* * *

"Jack!"

His head whipped around as he heard her voice. She was calling for him, she needed him.

He lept into the air, flying down the hall in an attempt to find her before landing hard on his right leg, wincing as he did so.

"Jack!"

He swallowed as he turned and hurried down the next hallway. Could this be another one of Pitch's tricks? This is what Pitch had done before to Jack, tricking him with his memories, hearing his sister call out to him.

But if this woman needed him, he couldn't just leave her. He had to find her.

He waited, listening patiently for her to call out again before choosing his next path down the confusing web of hallways.

Her voice was getting stronger now. Or was it? Was his mind playing tricks on him?

"Jack!"

There, down that corridor. He turned and flew, seeing the spill of sunlight from the outside coming in from the wide open gates of the palace. He staggered through them, holding his staff up defensively as he spun around looking for Pitch.

"Jack!" she called again, the loudest time yet. He turned and saw her the time, standing at the end of the bridge, leading away from the palace.

He flew across the bridge to her, turning his head to look out for Pitch again.

"Are you okay?" he asked, looking her up and down as he stood before her.

She smiled at him, holding her hand out to him. "Jack!" she said again.

He frowned at her, cautiously reaching a hand out to her and touched her.

* * *

He gasped as he awoke in his hospital bed, looking around the foreign room.

"Jack!" Elsa said, standing up and smiling down at him. "Jack, you're, you're awake!"

He looked over at her, smiling at her, holding up their hands that were still clutched together.

"Elsa," he croaked out, wincing as he dry throat cracked. He brought his free hand up to rub it.

"Oh, yes," she said, stepping over to look out at the nurse's station. "Mari! Sean!"

Jack's eyes worked around the room, frowning as he looked over everything, himself and then at her.

"You're in the hospital," she told him, sitting back down in her chair. "You-we were in a car accident, almost two weeks ago. You were injured pretty badly, do you remember that?"

He frowned at her, nodding slowly before giving a confused look to the nurses rushing into the room.

"Oh, yay! He's awake!" Mari said, clapping her hands.

"His throat," Elsa said, tapping her own throat.

"Right," Mari said, turning to leave the room again.

Sean stepped over to the bed, pulling his stethoscope from around his neck and fitting it to his ears.

"Just gonna take a listen to your breathing," Sean said, reaching the small circle out to settle on his chest, listening to Jack breath.

Mari came back into the room, holding a cup with several long sticks poking up out of it.

"Here, take one of these and just bite down on it. We have to ease you back into fluids, since you haven't swallowed anything in two weeks."

He scowled at her, taking the stick with a small sponge on the end and slowly slid it into his mouth. His eyes closed and he groaned a little with pleasure as the water washed over his mouth.

Elsa chuckled, still beaming up at him, so happy to see him awake; there were tears in her eyes.

He pulled the sponge-stick out of his mouth and held it back out to Mari, keeping his hand extended for another. She gave him another, chuckling.

"They like these better than candy," Mari said, smiling at Elsa.

Jack pulled the sponge out again, testing out talking again. "Are you okay?" he rasped, turning to look at her.

She smiled up at him and nodded. "We're fine, love. You just focus on you right now."

Jack gave her a tired smile, holding up the spent sponge to Mari again. The nurse laughed, taking it and giving him another waterlogged one.

"Well, you sound good," Sean said, looping his stethoscope back around his neck. "Let us know if you need anything Mari."

Mari nodded. "Thanks."

Jack chomped on the sponge stick a few more times before holding it out for another one, which Mari supplied with a smile.

"Well, Jack, we've got you awake now. That's a big step in the right direction. You're infection is almost cleared up, another big plus. Now we have to get your strength back," she said, watching him. "And that is the part I don't think you're going to like."

He quirked a brow at her, white stick sticking out of his lips like a lollipop.

Mari smiled at him. "Tomorrow, you get to meet Hugh. Your physical therapist."

Elsa frowned. "But, he can't move his leg with it all in that contraption."

Jack looked down at his legs, frowning as he saw the sheets. "What?" he croaked, holding his arm out for another water sponge.

Mari set the water cup down on the small bed table tray and carefully pulled the blanket and sheet out from over Jack's left leg, giving him an apologetic look as his leg was exposed.

He stared down at it, his eyes wide.

"Jesus christ," he said, his voice cracking as he threaded both of his hands through his hair and stared at his leg, encased in metal with a long line running up it. He looked up at Elsa, his eyes wide still.

"And you're, okay?" he asked again, fear in his eyes. "And the baby?"

She smiled at him, nodding. "I had a few impressive cuts and bruises, but that's about it. You certainly got the worse of it."

He swallowed, looking at her for a long moment before holding his arms out to her. She stared at him before she carefully shuffled up, leaning over to hug him. He pulled at her with what little strength he had, pulling her onto the bed with him.

"Jack," she gasped, trying to pull back. "I don't want to hurt you."

"I'm fine right now," he said, tightening his grip around her. "I just want to hold you. I just want to hold you, and make sure you're okay for myself."

Elsa smiled, carefully settling herself on the bed as Jack's warm embrace enveloped her. She heard Mari leave, pulling the curtain closed behind her and sighed. She'd missed her husband's wonderful arms, even if it meant laying here amongst the hum and beeping of machines, with tubes and antiseptic all around them. It was home.

* * *

A/N: Okay, so Jack didn't just wake up in a matter of minutes here in this chapter, his time in the dream world was over the course of an entire day. Each "Jack!" that he heard would have been Elsa in the real world gently calling to him.

Also, Jack doesn't have much strength here. He's sitting up in the bed, because hospital beds are awesome and have settings that will sit you up for you. He can basically move his arms and neck, and that's about it. He's also still going to sleep a LOT, even though they won't have to sedate him any longer.

Please review! Love! Aria


	10. Chapter 10

The next morning went by quickly, as the stream of Jack's doctors all came into see him and ordered more tests to be done. Dr. North beamed at him, carefully patting his shoulder and smiling down at him.

"You're making excellent progress Jack, excellent progress," he said, nodding. "At this rate we will have you home long before Christmas!"

Jack smiled at him, giving nod as the tall man left the room and the petite day nurse stepped forward with the tub of vials to draw blood. She smiled at him, her brown hair pulled back in a ponytail and her glasses perched high on her nose.

"Just a couple tubes," she said. "Won't take me but a minute."

He nodded again, turning to look at Elsa with a frown. "What day is it? How long was I out?"

She smiled at him, leaning forward to take his other hand.

"It's November 3rd, they had you knocked out for a little over two weeks," she told him, rubbing her thumb over the back of his hand.

He nodded again, as if slowly processing everything that had happened to him, and looked back over at the nurse taking his blood. She smiled up at him again.

"Almost done," the nurse said, picking up a square of alcohol to swab the port she'd just taken blood from clean before stepping away. She gathered her things and left the room, Jack still looking mildly confused as he looked down at the blankets on his lap.

"Something happens at the beginning of November," he said, looking back at her. "I'm sorry, I get the feeling I'm forgetting something important."

She gave him another smile, opening her mouth to answer when another knock sounded at the door. They both turned, seeing the small form of Dr. Layug walking into the room, smiling at Jack as well.

"Hey, Jack, good to see you awake," he said, holding out his hand to shake. Jack smiled, and shook it back. "I'm Joe Layug, I'm who put your leg back together."

Jack blew out a breath as Dr. Layug pulled the blankets out from around his left leg, shaking his head when he saw everything again.

"I gotta admit, that was quite the shock to wake up to," Jack said, staring down at it.

The doctor grinned, stepping back and grabbing a pair of latex gloves.

"I can imagine," he said, quickly pulling them on and touching around the incision. "Well the incision is looking a lot better, looks like that nasty little infection you had is almost gone."

Jack glanced to his side as he heard Elsa exhale a sigh of relief; he smiled at her before looking back down at his leg and the examination.

"How are you feeling today?" Dr. Layug asked, looking up at him.

Jack shrugged. "Okay, I suppose. Tired, but I'm told that's to be expected after being asleep for so long."

Dr. Layug nodded. "Yeah, you were pretty banged up when you came in here. You look a lot better now, I gotta say. Well, if you feel like you can manage sitting up for about half an hour, I'm going to put in some orders and send you down to radiology. I'd like to get some good images of your leg, specifically your femur. I want to make sure all your new fancy hardware is in the right places."

"Slowly turning me into the six-million-dollar man doc?"

He laughed. "I can try, not sure I'm THAT good though. Hang tight, shouldn't take too long. I blocked a timeslot out already in hopes that you'd be up for it."

Jack nodded, Dr. Layug gave them both a smile and turned to leave the room. Jack smiled, turning his head to Elsa.

"He's a fun little guy," he said. "Kinda bouncy."

Elsa laughed.

He pulled his table tray back over to sit across his lap, picking up the pencil stuck in the crease of the notebook Elsa had had stuck in her purse. He resumed a sketch he had been working on, Elsa returning to her magazine, carefully sticking a post it at the top of a page she wanted to remember.

She jumped a moment later in her chair, glancing worriedly up at Jack as he smacked his hand down on his tray. He scowled down at the blanket as the small cup of water that had been sitting on it flew off and spread over the white woven cloth.

"November 3rd," he said, looking up at her.

She set her magazine aside, stepping around to the other side of the bed and grabbed several paper towels to dab at the mess.

"Yes," she said slowly, looking at him worriedly.

"Yesterday was the 2nd," he said, still looking at her.

She paused, giving him a soft smile. "Yes, it was. And you were getting better, so it was a good day."

He opened his mouth to speak, reaching down for her hand when another knock sounded on the door and two men wearing beige scrubs walked in, smiling at them both.

"Mr. Frost?" one of them said, looking up from a piece of paper. "We're here to take you down to x-ray."

"Okay," Jack said, holding his arms up as the other man pulled the tray out of the way, both men stepping on the bed brakes to unlock it and carefully unplugging cords to take the IV tree with them as well.

"It gets pretty crowded down there," the first man said to Elsa, a note of apology in his voice. "You might want to just stay here, we shouldn't be gone with him very long."

Elsa swallowed, looking down at Jack. "You'll be okay?"

Jack smirked at her. "I'll be fine, I'm sure they won't torture me too much. Just look through more of your magazine."

She smiled, stepping forward and leaning over him to kiss him. "I'll be here when you get back."

The orderlies smiled at her as she stepped back, moving his bed and everything carefully out of the room and down the hall. She glanced around, putting her hands on her thighs with a soft pat before sitting back down; the room seemed eerily larger without the bed in it.

Settling back in, she read through another article, marked another recipe that she wanted to try before there was another knock on the door. Frowning, she looked up; Jack hadn't returned yet and Dr. Layug was the last of the doctors that needed to see him that day.

A couple strolled into the room, a tall dark haired man and a petite blonde walked into the room, the latter smiling brightly at her. Both of them were dressed in khaki pants and dark blue polo shirts emblazoned with the hospital's logo over the right breast pocket. Both were slender, athletically built and carried clipboards.

They both stopped, the man frowning at the empty space where Jack's bed should be. He looked up at her, palm open in confusion.

"Wh-what, where? What the bloody-?" he started, his voice thick with an Australian accent, looking down at his clipboard again. "I had a schedule."

Elsa blinked at him. "They took Jack down to get some x-rays in radiology," she said carefully. "They said it shouldn't be that long."

He scoffed, rolling his eyes. "They always say that. 'Just a quick little thing, be back in twenty minutes. Next thing you know it takes an hour."

The woman beside him smirked, turning her head to scratch her neck to avoid him seeing her grin. He scowled down at his clipboard, flipping the pages a few times.

Elsa glanced down at her watch. "They took him out about fifteen minutes ago, if that helps."

"Bloody hate radiology," the man murmured again, still scowling at his clipboard.

"Here we go, beating a dead horse again. What's got you in such a mood this morning? Your footy team lose yesterday?" the woman said, also speaking with an Australian accent, as she cast a look up at the ceiling before turning to look at Elsa, blonde hair swaying in her ponytail slightly as she struggled not to laugh at her co-worker.

"I'm Naomi," she said, holding her hand out to Elsa. "That, is Hugh. We're here to assess Jack for what he's going to need for P.T., see what we need to focus on, see what exercises we can give him to work on in bed. That sort of thing. But, since he isn't here."

She trailed off, causing Hugh to look up. "You stay here," he told Naomi, pointing to her. "Page me when he comes back, or I'll never keep my schedule for today. I'm going to pop over to the next unit and visit a couple patients there."

Naomi nodded, giving him a mock salute. "Right, yes sir, ai ai mate."

He scowled down at her, his lids half closing as he spun on his heel and left the room, Naomi's chuckling following him. Elsa smiled at her, struggling not to laugh herself.

"Are you two?" she asked, holding her left hand with her own wedding band sparkling on it.

Naomi glanced at her, eyes flitting to her ring and choked on another laugh. "Me and Hugh? Ffff-Heck no, we just work together. Not sure how we ended up in the same hospital but that happens I suppose. He tolerates me, and I give him hell every chance I can. I suppose he loves me in his own way," she said, grinning at Elsa as she same over to lean back against the window.

Elsa giggled, holding up her hands. "Sorry for the assumption."

"Nah, happens a lot. Two Aussies working in the same department, one of them as gorgeous as I am, it's a safe assumption."

Elsa giggled again, shoulders shaking as she watched Naomi beam at her.

"That's some rock you have there," she said, gesturing back to Elsa's hand. "How long have you had that?"

Elsa glanced down briefly before smiling back up, right hand fluttering to cover her left self consciously. "Oh, how long have we been married? 8 years now. We've been together for 13."

Naomi whistled. "You don't look old enough to be an old married couple."

Elsa shrugged. "Started dating in college, just never stopped."

Naomi glanced down at her magazine on the edge of the chair. "And expecting too?"

Elsa nodded. "Yeah, I just entered my fourth month not long ago."

"Well then, we need to get buddy boy up and moving, can't have only you changing the diapers, now can we."

They chatted further, each telling the other about their trips from their homeland to now living in America and what it was like. Each of them bemoaned something that they missed about their hometown, laughing over must haves whenever they visited family, and things they still didn't quite understand about America.

"Drive-thrus for everything! ATMs, Food, liquor, convenience stores!" Naomi said, waving her pen around in the air. "I still can't get over it."

Elsa laughed, nodding. "It's a different culture here, that's for sure."

Naomi sighed, grinning and checked her watch. "Hugh is going to have a fit, you said he'd been gone a quarter hour when we got here?"

Elsa nodded.

"It's already been almost an hour. I bet they are backed up down there. Bloody radiology."

Elsa worried her lower lip, glancing down at her own watch and absentmindedly moving her wedding ring back upright with her thumb.

"So tell me how you got that shiny," she asked, bumping Elsa's shoulder.

"Hmm," Elsa said, looking up at this. "Oh, what do you mean?"

"How did he propose, was it romantic?"

Elsa chuckled. "I think he planned it to be."

"Oh you're laughing, I bet this is a good one. Tell me, I love hearing these stories."

Elsa smiled at her, laughing at bit. "You really want to know?"

Naomi held up a hand, indicating the empty room. "Yes! Come on, god knows how long Radiology is going to take. Might as well get a good story out of it."

"Alright," Elsa said, smiling at her. "Well, Jack and I had been living together for a little while, a pretty nice apartment, that was in the same building as one for my sister. She was in college at the time."

"She had an apartment on her own in college?" Naomi asked, raising a brow.

"We lived there after our parents died. Neither of us wanted to continue living in the house they had bought, so we sold it, and Anna wanted a place of her own. We were lucky enough to find a place that had two apartments open for us."

Naomi nodded, accepting the fact and gestured for her to continue. "Okay, so apartment together."

Elsa nodded. "Yes, living together for awhile while everything with their deaths settled down and things got back to normal. I got a job working at the embassy myself and Jack started work in his studio that he made out of the loft area."

* * *

Elsa hurried up the two floor walk up to their apartment, carefully balancing the bag of groceries on her arm as she fished her keys back out of her purse.

"Why do I always put them back in my purse," she muttered, leaning her knee on the doorframe and bringing her bag to sit in top of the bag. She pulled them out, smiling and glanced down at the door, scowling; it was cracked open. She groaned and pushed it open with her foot, her heels tapping on the floor as she hurried into the kitchen and set her bags down.

"Yeah, yeah, I gotta go. Yes, tomorrow. She's home now, I gotta go," she heard Jack saying, frowning slightly as she pulled the loaf of bread and carton of eggs out of the top of the bag, turning to put them away.

He emerged from their bedroom, shoving his phone in his pocket and smiled at her as he hurried over to help her unpack.

"Who was that?" she asked, setting the carton of eggs in the fridge and taking the bag of lunch meat he held out for her.

"Uhh, Jamie," he said, pausing for a moment as he continued to hand her groceries.

She waited for a moment, watching him. "And? Making plans for tomorrow? Tomorrow is Saturday afterall."

"No, no plans. No plans at all," he said, smiling at her, folding up the paper bag and setting it on the counter.

She blinked, brow furrowing. "But you were just saying-"

"Oh, that. No, that wasn't anything. He was just asking about something else," Jack said, rubbing the back of his neck. "You want to go get changed and I'll start on dinner? We can stay in, watch a movie on demand, nice and relaxing?"

She still stared at him, moving her hand to feel his forehead. "You feeling okay?"

"Fine, fine. Super. Just, got a lot done today!" he said, smiling widely at her.

"Okay," she said, slowly stepping away. "Just making sure."

He grinned at her as she turned her head, walking into their room and shedding her heels and skirt for bare feet and yoga pants. She pulled her long hair up into a messy bun, pulling a wide headband on to keep everything mostly intact and pulled on her favorite oversized college tee to cover her top.

She sauntered back out to see Jack carefully setting the table, smiling up at her as she came back out and reaching back over to the counter to grab a glass of wine to hold out to her. She took it, eyeing him suspiciously.

"It's not my birthday, it's not our anniversary. What did you do?"

"Nothing! Nothing," he said, dumping pasta into a boiling pot of water. "I just, I want you to have a nice evening. Stop being so suspicious and just enjoy, okay?"

She relaxed, slowing, sipping on her wine as she told him about her day, upcoming plans and events for the coming weeks. She asked about an art project that he was hoping to get selection for, wondering if they had contacting him back as she watched him prepare their dishes and set them on the table with a flourish.

"I'm impressed," she said, shuffling over to the table. "You should do this more often."

He chuckled, leaning over to kiss her as they sat down to enjoy their meal together.

With their plates cleared, and the dirty dishes sitting in a sink full of soapy water, they turned to cuddle up together on the couch, Jack slowly thumbing through the various movie options as Elsa settled a blanket over them.

"Oh look, they have 'Titanic,' one of your favorites," he said, pointing it out to her.

"You hate that movie, you make fun of it all the time."

"Well," he started, looking to reconsider.

"Jack, we're going to get to the scene with them at the front of the boat and you're going to ask me if I think I'm flying, you do every time you see me watching this."

He smiled, struggling not to laugh and looked back up at the screen. "Yeah, maybe we should watch something else."

"Ooh, 'The Fountain,' what's that one?" she asked, pointing to another selection.

"No," Jack said quickly, moving through the selections.

"Why not?" she asked, looking up at him.

"Because it's depressing as hell."

"More than 'The Notebook'?"

"That's not a legit movie and you know it," he said, looking down at her. "You can lose that argument again on why it's a terrible movie, if you want. But yes, 'The Fountain' is like, the most depressing movie ever. Goddamned beautiful but depressing."

He grunted when she punched his stomach.

"It is too a legit movie."

"And so is Big Trouble in Little China."

Elsa made a noise of disgust.

"Don't you even start," Jack said. "That was the deal. I watch 'The Notebook,' you watch 'Big Trouble in Little China'."

She rolled her eyes, watching more movies scroll down the screen.

"There. 'Phantom of the Opera.' Surely you can appreciate that."

He leaned forward, looking at the screen. "Which one is it though? There are some pretty terrible ones."

She looked at him, frowning. "I swear, you've seen like every movie."

"I'm a connoisseur, my dear, I do my best. Ugh, it's the Gerald Butler one."

Elsa snatched the remote from him and jammed the play button.

"Wha-?" he started, looking down at her.

"Shut up, he's hot and he can sing."

"I can sing."

"No you can't."

"I can shower sing."

She looked up at him. "Yes dear, you can shower sing. Now, lets watch the professionals sing."

He rolled his eyes and wrapped an arm around her, settling down into the couch to watch the film.

And two hours of snarky filled comments later, Elsa thumbed off the TV, chuckling.

"We should get a basement like that," he said, kicking off the blanket. "I'll put a whole bunch of candles down there, and I'll make a creepy effigy of you so I can't miss you while you're at work. I totally dig that heart-shaped bed too. TOTALLY dig it."

Elsa laughed, rolling onto her back. "Oh I remember why I don't watch romances with you."

"Is THAT what that was? Cause, that totally looked like stalker-licious dude getting his stalk on."

She laughed again, tossing a pillow at him.

"That's the Phantom, he's supposed to be misunderstood, and hurt, and-"

"Stalkery?" Jack finished, snatching up the blanket to drape around his shoulders like a cape.

She laughed, rolling off the couch and rubbing under her eyes. "Oh god, my sides hurt."

"Come to me, COME to me ANGEL of MUSIC," Jack said, moving his hands under the blanket.

She scoffed at him, shaking her head. "You're such a dork, and I love you for it. Come on, I'm tired," she said, yawning. "I want to go to bed."

He pulled the blanket off, tossing it back over the couch and wrapped her up in a hug, smiling down at her. "Hey, you chose the movie, you know the rules."

She smiled up at him, leaning up on her toes to peck a kiss on his lips. "Yes, but I can still think you're a dork."

He continued to smile down at her, bending his head to give her another longer kiss. "Love you too. Now lets get you to bed, before you turn into a pumpkin, or a thimble or whatever else Disney says you will."

The next morning, Elsa woke with a start as a loud crash of thunder rattled the windows. She moaned, settling back down into the covers and stretching out her legs behind her for Jack, frowned and looked behind her at the empty bedclothes. She yawned and pulled herself out of bed, squinting at the clock that told her it was just after nine in the morning, and headed back out into the living area.

Jack was on the couch again, furiously typing away at his phone with a heavy scowl on his face, the weather report softly talking on the television. She watched for a moment, seeing the report called for thunderstorms off and on all day long, and glanced back down at him.

"Morning," she said, shuffling around to plop down beside him.

"Hey," he said distractedly, still typing away on his phone.

"Looks like it's going to be a nasty day," she said, rubbing a bit of sleep from her eye.

"So it would seem," he said, pressing hard on the glass screen a few times before thumbing the off button and sighing, his head flopping back on the back of the couch.

She watched him for a moment, raising an eyebrow.

"Something wrong?" she finally asked, watching as he draped an arm over his eyes.

"No," he said. "Just a change of plans."

"Plans?"

He waved at her with the hand draped over his eyes. "It's nothing, don't worry about it. The thing I was talking to Jamie about last night."

"Oh," she said, looking down in her lap. "Well do you want to get some breakfast?"

The arm raised up and he looked over at her, smiling.

"I wanna go back to bed."

She waved a dismissive hand. "Go, you know once I'm up, I'm up for the day."

The smile changed, grew slightly more mischievous. "I didn't say sleep."

She smiled back.

Later that day, as she sat curled up in a blanket reading a book after her extra long weekend shower, she paused and frowned, looking up at the loft room above them where his studio was.

"You can? Today? What time? Oh that's perfect. No that-Yeah that's fine," he said, sounding incredibly excited.

She watched him hurry down the stairs a few minutes later, a huge smile on his face and raised a brow at him. He held up his phone, a satisfied smile on his face.

"Got us dinner reservations at that new place over in Silver Spring," he said, grinning madly at her. "It's for 5pm, so you still have a couple hours to get ready."

"I thought you had something going with Jamie?"

"What? No, no that was just a little something, nothing really. Got changed this morning with the weather."

"How did you manage to get a reservation? I called last week and they said they were booked for the month."

He shrugged, smiling at her. "Guess I got a little lucky?"

She rolled her eyes, looking back down at her book. "I'll start getting ready after I finish this chapter, it's almost over."

"Yeah, I've heard that one before. 'Just one more chapter, Jack.' and then it's 3 in the morning and the light is still on."

She stuck her tongue out at him, holding her book up higher to finish reading her chapter.

She was ready on time, mostly, as she stood standing at the mirror with two different shoes on trying to pick which one looked the best with her flirty black dress. Jack came out of the bathroom, tightening his silver tie on his black shirt, eyeing her with a smile.

"You clean up well, I might just keep you," he said, grinning at her. "Might want to pick a shoe though."

"That's what I can't decide," she said, turning to one side to eye the black stilettos.

"Don't wear the black ones, you don't like them."

She frowned turning to look at him. "I don't like them?"

"You wore them at one of the gallery things we went to, you said they pinched your toes."

"Oh," she said, looking down at her feet. "I guess I'll wear the silver ones then."

"Aww, we will be all matchy," he said, smiling at her.

She snorted as she fished the matching shoe out of her closet, hopping to slip it on her foot and stepped over to her dresser. She flipped open the top of her jewelry box and carefully pulled out the snowflake necklace he'd given her the day they had graduated college.

"Help me put this on?"

He stepped over behind her, taking the two small clasps in his fingers and carefully hung it around her neck, moving his hands to wrap around her waist when he was done. He hugged her, kissing her shoulder and stepped back.

"Come on, let's get going, I don't want to be late," he said, clapping his hands.

She snatched up the small clutch she planned to use, slipping her lipstick and phone into it and headed out towards the door, Jack close behind her.

"Oh," he said, patting his pockets. "Forgot something."

He grinned at her sheepishly, turning to jog up the steps to his studio. She threaded the earrings she held in her hand into her earlobes as she waited, smiling at him as he came back down.

"You good?" she asked, pulling her hands away from her earlobe.

"Yep! Let's go."

Traffic was a nightmare. It was D.C., so things were always on the borderline of insanity, but the combination of all day rain and people trying to get things done on the weekend made things even more hellish than usual.

Jack kept glancing nervously at the clock as the minutes ticked closer and closer to 5 o'clock. He fidgeted with the wheel, changed the radio station every few minutes and cursed under his breath at the traffic around them. Elsa smiled, looking out the window at everything slowly passing by; Jack hated driving in Washington and around it.

With a few minutes left to spare, Jack pulled into a parking space in front of the restaurant, breathing a heavy sigh of relief as he shifted the car into park.

Elsa frowned, leaning forward. "Is that a firetruck?"

His head whipped around, leaning forward to try and see what she was looking at. She pointed, showing him the red lights swirling about towards the entrance and the mass of people standing out front under the covering and umbrellas.

"Are you kidding me?" he muttered, leaning back behind them to pull their own umbrella forward. "Stay in, I'll come around and get you."

She complied, watching as he stepped out and around the car to open her own door and hold the open umbrella above her head. He cast a worried look over at the restaurant as they walked closer.

Conversation was buzzing as they got closer, people chatting animately as they waited outside. Elsa leaned forward, smiling at an older couple who turned to look back at her.

"Hi," she said. "Did something happen here? We were supposed to have dinner reservations."

The woman chuckled. "Did it ever. One of their cooks set the kitchen on fire! I told Morty, I told my husband here that I smelled smoke, didn't I Morty?"

"Aye, you did," said Morty, nodding at his wife.

"I said, I smell smoke. And it wasn't like the normal kind of smoke that you smell in restaurants, it was, well it was like something was burning. And I said to Morty, I said I think something is burning. Didn't I Morty? Didn't I say something was on fire?"

"Aye, you did."

"I did! And then all the waiters started running around all panicked like, and then the fire alarm went off and we had to come out here. Some people are waiting to go inside and get their belongings, but I brought my purse and my wrap out with me. I said to Morty, I said that something happened. I said something big happened and it's gonna take awhile to get back in here. Didn't I Morty, didn't I say that?"

"Aye, you did."

Elsa's smile was frozen on her face as she nodded along with the woman, looking between the pair.

"I see," she said, speaking as the woman finally took a breath.

"You aren't going to be eating here anytime soon, no way," the woman continued. "I told Morty this place looked a bit dangerous, didn't I Morty? Didn't I say this place looked a bit dodgy?"

"Aye, you did."

"And the prices they were charging, it was ridiculous!"

Elsa felt Jack lean down beside her ear. "Back away slowly, I don't think she will notice," he whispered, slipping his arm through hers.

Elsa struggled to not laugh as she continued to smile and laugh, the both of them taking a few steps backwards before the woman turned to speak to someone else in the crowd, Morty adding in his "Aye, you did," when prompted.

Rain falling heavily on the umbrella as they hurried back to their car, laughing hard once the doors were closed.

"Out of all the people you could have asked, out of ALL of them, you had to choose HER," Jack said, turning to look at her.

"Aye, I did," Elsa said, smiling up at him before they both dissolved into laughter once again.

"Oh god," Jack said, rubbing at his eyes. "Well, dinner is a bust. Damn, damn, damn."

"Let's just go get pizza at that place over by Jamie and Emma's, they have really good garlic bread," Elsa said, pulling down the vanity mirror to check her makeup.

"All dressed up like this?"

She looked over at him. "Like we're going to get in somewhere at five on a Saturday night?"

He considered this for a moment, sighed and put the car back into gear. "You're right. Pizza it is."

Another hour later, with more muttered curses and a few obscene gestured traded between Jack and other drivers, they arrived at the pizza parlor and made their way inside. They made their way to a booth in the corner, Jack waving at the owner of the place as they sat down and huddled together to examine the menu.

"Let's see, today is Saturday," Elsa said, running her finger down the list of specials. "That means today's special is-"

"ELSA! JACK!" a voice screamed from the front of the restaurant.

Elsa jumped slightly, looking up to see Emma, Jamie's girlfriend, coming out of the bathroom and hurrying over to them with a big smile on her face.

"Oooh, where is it? I wanna see, I wanna see!" she said, waving her hands in the air. "Lemme see!"

Elsa stared at her, leaning back slightly and looked over at Jack, who was glaring daggers at Emma.

"See what?" Elsa asked slowly, looking between the two.

Emma froze, color draining from her face as she looked between them. "Oh, did you not-?"

"No, I haven't," Jack said through gritted teeth.

Elsa frowned looking at him. "Haven't what? I'm missing something here."

"Emma!" Jamie said, coming in the front door, and shooting an apologetic glance towards Jack. "Did you get the food?"

Emma turned and hurried away, mouthing an apology to Jack as she hurried back up to the front counter to pick up their order.

Jack put his head down on the table, thumping it a few times for good measure as Elsa blinked, still trying to figure out what had happened.

"What just happened there?" she asked, looking over at him.

He moved his hands under the table, shifting his weight to one side for a moment before sitting back straight up. He moved his right hand, the one closest to her, up onto the table and sat up, giving her a pained smile.

"Here," he said, handing her a small velvet wrapped box.

She furrowed a brow at him, looking down at the box. "What's that?"

"Open it."

She reached forward and picked up the box, opening it to reveal a diamond ring, nestled around a bed of sapphires set in white gold. She smiled, looking up at him.

"Not a very romantic proposal, but I'll take it," she said, leaning over to kiss him.

He scowled at her. "Woman. I've been trying for two days. TWO. DAYS. I had things planned out. I had lined for the movie prepared, that you didn't want to watch, but I wasn't really banking on that because it was kind of lame anyways. Then I had this big thing planned in the park today, Jamie and a couple other guys were going to help me. It was going to be big, it was going to be awesome. IT WASN'T SUPPOSED TO RAIN. Then I thought, okay, I'll get nice dinner plans. Nice, romantic dinner plans," he said, gesturing with his hands. "Everything just, FUBARed on me."

She watched him, trying not to laugh and grinned.

He sat there for a moment, sulking and looked at her. "What?"

"Are you going to ask me or not?"

He winced, giving her an apologetic look and took the box back, smiling at her. "Sorry," he said. "I just, wanted things to be a little better than when I first asked you out."

"I think this is more your style," she said, smiling at him.

"Elsa, Snowflake, my dearest love, marry me?"

She nodded, leaning forward to wrap her arms around his neck. "Yes, yes I will."

* * *

"He still isn't back? What the bloody hell is radiology doing down there? What the bloody hell are you doing Naomi? Having girly fun time?" Hugh said, coming back into the room and waving his clipboard around.

Naomi scowled at him, sticking her tongue out as he neared them. "You said to page you when they got back, they haven't gotten back yet."

Hugh rolled his eyes. "I don't understand what could be taking so bloody long, he was scheduled for four sets of x-rays. FOUR. How is that hard?"

Naomi waved a hand at him. "He sounds like a keeper, hopefully radiology hasn't stolen him."

"I have returned!" Jack said, the orderlies pushing his bed back into the room as Jack smiled, holding his arms open as they maneuvered the bed back into place.

"About bloody time," Hugh muttered. "Never going to get back on schedule now. What the hell did they do down there, build a new machine?"

"Uhh," Jack said, glancing at Elsa before giving a confused look at Hugh. "No. They wanted the doctor to check the images."

Hugh rolled his eyes. "Don't get me started on them. Alright. I'm Hugh, that's Naomi, we're from P.T., we're here to see what muscle mass you've lost while being in bed the last couple weeks."

"Going to make me bigger and stronger?"

"I'll settle for getting you to stand upright and walk out on your own power," Hugh said, giving him a smirk over the clipboard. "Now then, for some real fun. Naomi, if you're done with your girly time?"

Naomi sighed, moving forward off the windowsill to stand bedside Jack.

"You can give me more details next time," she told Elsa, smiling. "I want to know about the wedding next."

Jack frowned, looking over at them. "What were you two talking about?"

"You," Naomi supplied, smiling down at him and taking his arm.

"Oh," Jack said, smiling. "I'm usually a good topic."

Hugh groaned from the other side of the bed. "Dear god, there are two of them."

Elsa chuckled, settling back in her chair to watch Jack go through the exercises with Hugh and Naomi to test his strength, cheekily exchanging retorts with the latter.

* * *

_Please review, love you all! Love, Aria_


	11. Chapter 11

Elsa hefted her bag onto her shoulder as she walked into the hospital from the parking lot, she'd just spent the day bustling around from her own doctor's appointment, settling things up with the insurance company over the last details from the car accident and taking a quick trip downtown to turn in her FMLA paperwork to take a few more weeks off work.

She could have hugged her supervisor for being so understanding that she couldn't concentrate on her work while Jack was still in the hospital. She offered to do some work on her laptop but Stian had waved her away, assuring her that everything was well under control and to concentrate on everything else. Several of her coworkers had asked about the baby, excitedly asking if she knew the gender yet; she didn't. The little one had been proving difficult during the last few ultrasounds and the tech hadn't been able to tell her.

She hurried down the hall, smiling and nodding at several people that she passed as she made her way to the elevators. She punched the button, waiting for a moment for the car doors to open for her before she groaned, turned and walked further down the hall. She kept forgetting that Jack had moved rooms the other day, off of the ICU and onto the Orthopedic unit; she'd gotten so used to the route to the ICU unit that the change was taking a bit for her to register.

Turning down the next hall she paused, fishing her wallet out of her purse and smiling at the pair of old ladies sitting at the plastic covered table in the hall, saran-wrapped baked goods laid out for purchased. She pulled out a few singles, handing them over with a smile and picked up a rather tempting plate of brownies before continuing down the hall to call the correct elevator. Somewhat ironically, hospitals had some of the best bake sales she had found.

She smiled at the nurses in their station as she came onto the orthopedic unit, carefully stepping to the side as a nurse carefully trailed behind a knee-replacement patient with a rolling chair as the patient slowly took steps down the hall, his own physical therapist calmly guiding him along. Elsa gave him a smile of encouragement as she placed a hand on Jack's door and opened.

"I am pushing!" Jack growled. "Stop pushing back so hard you, you bloody kangaroo."

"I'm trying to get you to be able to walk, you big softie," Hugh responded, annoyance evident in his voice. "And stop calling me that!"

Elsa bit her lower lip to keep from laughing as she slid her purse onto the counter, pulling the saran wrap off the brownies and glancing up at Naomi. The petite blonde was writing on her clipboard as Hugh worked at helping Jack with his strength exercises.

"Things are going well I see," she said, offering the plate to Naomi.

"Oooh, yum! Thanks!" Naomi said, tucking the board under her arm and selecting one, taking a large bite. "And, yeah, you could say that."

Elsa chuckled, selecting one for herself and glancing up at the warring pair ahead of them. A week had passed since Jack had started the strength exercises, cursing and snarling at the two therapists quite often. Neither seemed to be phased by it, Naomi telling her it was a fairly regular thing; people weren't used to losing so much muscle mass with such a serious injury and still expected to be able to do all their normal activities and got frustrated when they couldn't.

"He's doing pretty well, if he can manage a few more reps of what Hugh is putting him through we're going to take him down to the aquatic center tomorrow and try having him walk on the water treadmill. I think he'd like being out of bed more than anything."

Elsa nodded, taking another bite of her treat. He was starting to go a little stir crazy.

"Alright," Hugh said loudly. "10 sets of the arm band pulls now."

"Why are you having me do my arms so much?" Jack complained, taking the green band that was offered to him.

"Because you're going to be on crutches for the next 2 months or so when you get out of here, you gumby," Hugh replied. "And you might want to be able to support yourself. 10 sets, go."

Elsa chuckled again, smiling at Hugh when he turned to walk back towards Naomi.

"Hey mate," he said to Elsa, smiling at her.

Elsa offered the plate up to him, laughing as he took one and stuffed the whole thing in his mouth. He grunted, nodding his satisfaction as he took the clipboard and started to write on it, tapping Naomi's shoulder and gesturing to Jack. Naomi rolled her eyes and stepped over to finish the exercises.

"Hopefully he hasn't been too difficult today," she said, watching as Naomi talked to him.

Hugh swallowed, looking at the plate for a long moment. "Those from the table the grannies have downstairs?"

She nodded.

"I might have to get some more of those. Nah, he's just been all bark as usual. I think getting him on his feet tomorrow might really cheer him up," Hugh said, swiping the back of his hand over his mouth and writing on the clipboard a few more times. "He had more x-rays earlier showing the lower leg is healing really well, which is good. It's hard to focus on regaining muscle until that lower bone break is healed up enough. Femur breaks take forever to heal, though he's got enough metal in him for his own erector set now."

"Are we DONE YET?" Jack said, massaging his arms. "My arms are on FIRE."

Elsa moved forward, smiling at him.

"YOU BROUGHT BROWNIES?" he said, carefully sitting further up in his bed. "Gimme. Gimme, gimme."

"Not until you're done with your therapy," she said, standing well away from him.

Jack turned and scowled at Naomi. "Please can we be done," he pleaded, pouting at her extra measure.

Naomi snorted. "You're done for today. I told Elsa we're going to take you down to the aquatic center tomorrow if you feel up for it."

Jack gestured for the plate, grinning at Elsa. "Aquatics? Like getting in the pool? What about my incision?"

"It's fine, you're almost four weeks post op now. It's looking good! Besides, don't you want to get out of that bed for a bit?"

"You have no idea," Jack said, giving her a desperate look.

Naomi laughed, turning and headed for the door. "See you tomorrow then, same time."

"I'll be here," Jack retorted, snatching a brownie off the plate with a huge grin.

"Bye," Elsa said, waving as they left the room, the door closing with a loud click behind them.

"Oh god," Jack said, closing his eyes. "These are heavenly. Amazing. Awesome."

She rolled her eyes.

"You said the same thing about the doughnut I brought you yesterday."

"YOU don't have to eat the crap they feed me here."

"You're on a special diet now, and you know that. You don't have a spleen anymore."

He snorted, taking another bite of brownie. "Like I needed it anyways," he said, bits of brownie falling onto his gown. "They could still let me have a burger."

She chuckled. "I'm going to ask your nurse if it's okay if I bring you Thanksgiving dinner next week."

He paused, eyes growing big and looked at her with alarm. "You had better bring it regardless."

"Jack-"

"Elsa, I cannot have crappy Thanksgiving hospital dinner. It would be just, just a travesty of all Americana."

She stared at him for a moment, shoulders shaking with laughter. "Really? That would be the biggest travesty?"

"Shut up," he said. "How did your appointment go? The squid finally show what bits it has?"

"Stop calling it that, and no. The tech still couldn't see if it's a boy or a girl."

"It's a boy," he said, picking another brownie off the plate. "It's totally a boy."

"And you would know, how?"

"It's my choice, isn't it? I mean, technically. X and Y, love."

She rolled her eyes and stood up to grab the stack of books she had left in his room.

"Yeah, tell that to Henry the 8th," she said, setting one of them in front of him. "Did you look at that at all?"

"No," he said, licking chocolate off his fingers. "Springer was on, I watched that instead."

"Jack," she said, an annoyed tone in her voice.

"Seriously? Have you watched that lately? It's hilarious."

She gave him a pointed look, causing him to sigh and pick up the book, snorting.

"I like the title," he said, flipping it around to show her the title of "Dude, you're gonna be a Dad!".

"Hence, why I bought it for you."

He grinned at her, flipping the book back around and opening it. "I love you too babe."

He flipped through a few pages, reading the index silently before turning to a chapter and starting to read. Elsa leaned her head back against the her chair and closed her eyes, worn out from all the running around she had done that day and shifted to bring her legs up under her.

She jerked awake, not realizing she'd fallen asleep, with a sound of disgust from Jack beside her. She yawned and frowned at him, wondering what had caused him such exclamation. He stared down at the book, turning it sideways before wincing and turning it back, looking over at her.

"What?" she asked, wondering what he'd seen to cause such a reaction.

"You don't, you, no, no that's, NO," he said, closing the book and moving it away from him with a shudder. "That's not right."

"What?" she asked again, standing up out of her chair and picking the book up. "What was it?"

With a grimace on his face he navigated back to the page, giving the book a wary look as she looked over the diagrams displayed.

"Yeah, that's normal."

"Ugh," he said, looking away.

"What? I'm carrying a baby inside me, it's not going to be exactly pretty when it comes time to take it out of me."

"Well, I didn't think it was going to be rainbows and unicorns but that's rather disgusting."

She rolled her eyes again. "And *I'M* supposed to be the "weaker sex"," she said, smiling down at him.

He glanced at the book. "If that's the deciding factor then you win. We can just say I'm the big tough manly man," he said, tossing the book onto his bed table and wrapped his arms around her.

"So you just want to keep up appearances," she said, carefully laying on the bed beside him as he pulled her onto his side. He hissed as he jarred his ribs, tilting his head back on his pillow.

"Sorry," she said, wincing.

"Fine," he said through gritted teeth. "I'm fine."

He fumbled around in the bedclothes for a moment, depressing a button that dispensed a dose of pain medicine into his system. He let out a held breath as it worked it's way through his system, relaxing slightly as well.

"I'm good," he said. "Got my wife, got my squid. I'm good."

"Stop calling her that."

"Him. Totally a him. When is your next appointment?"

"Two weeks, after the holiday."

He nodded, rubbing a hand over her stomach. "Who knows, maybe I'll be able to go."

"That might be nice."

"Did you call your mom?" she asked, resting her hand on his.

"No."

"Jack," she started, groaning.

"I'll call her later. Nap now, I'm on the drugs. Drugs say time to sleep."

She sighed, shaking her head as she felt him press a kiss to the back of her head and settle down for a nap. He had had a rather full day afterall.

The next day dawned and started with the usual routine of morning medicines, doctor visits and labs being drawn for tests. Jack spent the better part of an hour begging Elsa to go and get better food than had been provided to him for his breakfast.

"How am I going to build up muscle mass with all this crap they keep feeding me?" he asked, scowling at the grey bowl of oatmeal on his tray. "They could at least give me bacon, bacon never hurt anyone."

"I think the cardiac floor would beg to differ."

He paused, considering and scowled, sticking his tongue out at her. "Well, something that doesn't taste like GLUE then."

"I'm not going to get you more doughnuts, the head nurse glared at me last time. The dietician is supposed to come in later, take your complaints up with her."

He bit off a corner of toast, changing the channel of the television with his scowl still in place. Jack didn't take being sick very well, and Elsa had several years of flu outbreaks as experience.

The morning passed, Jack cheering loudly when the dietician cleared him for a broader diet based on how he had been handling everything.

"Just stay away from overly greasy foods from now on, that's kind of what your spleen helped with, okay?" she said, signing off on a paper and clicking several buttons on the computer.

"No monster fries with bacon, got it."

Elsa chuckled, thanking the woman as she nodded at them and left the room. Jack immediately picked up his room phone, dialing the number for food services with a big grin on his face.

"CHEESEBURGER AND FRIES," he told whomever answered, rattling off his room information and date of birth when prompted while Elsa laughed beside him.

Hugh and Naomi arrived in the middle of the afternoon, carefully pushing a wheelchair into the room ahead of them as they entered. Jack glanced up from sketching in the notebook he was working in, saluting them both with the pencil and glanced over at Elsa. She stretched out, yawning, as she woke from her nap.

"Hi," she said, smiling sleepily up at the new arrivals. "I'm tired all the time, I think it's a pregnancy thing."

Naomi grinned at her. "Good excuse to get lots of sleep though."

Elsa laughed, sitting up. "He's allowed to get out of bed then?"

"Yep," Naomi nodded, putting her hands on her hip. "Dr. Layug cleared him for aquatic therapy, as long as you think you're up for it. What do you think?"

"Yes," Jack said quickly. "I want out of this bed."

Naomi laughed, pulling his bed tray out of the way as Elsa stepped up to help pull the bedclothes down.

"So, we're going to go slow, so we don't hurt you," Hugh said, lining the wheelchair up with the bed and locking the wheels into place. "I'm going to support your left leg while you kind of hop over with your right into the chair."

"Kind of like a bunny," Naomi said, pressing a button to lower the bed down and carefully gathering the IV lines and holding them aside.

Slowly, and with all of three of them working together, Jack slid over to the edge of the bed, Hugh carefully supporting the appliances of his left leg, and stood on his right leg. He immediately sat back down, giving a nervous laugh.

"Little harder than I thought it would be," he said.

"Yeah, it's hard only using one leg," Naomi said. "Come on, try again, I'll help."

Jack nodded, carefully standing again and Naomi moved forward, putting her hands under Jack's arms and helping to support him as he hopped twice before sitting down hard in the chair, panting.

Hugh lifted his left leg, setting it into the raised leg of the chair and moved to the one of the cabinets, pulling a fresh blanket out to drape over Jack's lap and legs.

Elsa watched the whole thing nervously, moving her hands together as they had helped him transfer from one place to the other.

"Well, that was fun," Jack said, pressing the button for his pain medicine as Naomi handed him all of his IV cords.

Elsa smiled at him, giving him a sympathetic look as they finished getting him ready to move.

"Alrighty," Hugh said, crossing his arms. "You ready? It's a little bit of a jaunt."

"Let's do this," Jack said, smiling up at him.

"Should I stay, or?" Elsa asked, gesturing back at her chair.

"Nah, come along. You can see what tortures we have in store for him," Naomi said, smiling down at Jack as she slide past him, opening the door for Hugh to push Jack past.

"Tortures?"

"What, you think I would just let you get by with calling me a kangaroo?"

Naomi trailed behind with Elsa, chuckling as they watched Hugh push Jack to the end of the unit, waiting for the elevators to be called and hurried to catch up to them. They waited in silence, the faint ding of the units it was passing below.

"Ooh, so tell me about your wedding, while we are walking," Naomi said, turning to Elsa. "Big? Small? Traditional?"

"She was gorgeous. I was gorgeous. Our daughter will be gorgeous."

Elsa frowned down at him. "So it's a girl now?"

"I changed my mind, it has to be a girl as beautiful as you are."

She smiled at him, feeling her eyes start to water.

Naomi whistled.

"Smooth," Hugh said. "Very smooth. Too bad it's not gonna help you at the pool."

Hugh barked out a laugh and pushed Jack onto the elevator when the door opened. Elsa and Naomi looked at each other, giggled and followed them, Naomi selecting the floor they needed once they were all on.

"So what did your dress look like?" Naomi asked, smiling at Elsa.

"It was lace, chantilly lace. It was so pretty. It had these wide, like cap sleeves, and then the front and back was V-cut. There was this really soft blue sash around the waist, and really pretty pearl buttons running down the back that covered up the zipper. Then the skirt was tulle, but the way they had cut and draped the lace over it just made it float, I felt amazing in it."

"Looked amazing too," Jack commented.

Elsa smiled at him. "We got married in January, so I wore gloves and I got this really soft white fur-like wrap thing for the cold."

The elevator dinged, the doors opening and they all stepped off, Hugh leading Jack away as the girls trailed behind, Elsa retelling her wedding day to her.

"So, big or small wedding, you never said?" Naomi prompted, smiling at her.

"Small, mostly family and close friends."

* * *

Anna bounced into the small changing room at the back of the chapel, grinning widely at Elsa as she clapped her hands.

"Oooh, it's almost time," she said, leaning forward against the mirror to check her makeup again. "You ready?"

"Yes, for the tenth time," Elsa said, laughing. "I'm starting to wonder if you're more excited about this than I am."

The photographer they had hired clicked photos of the two sisters standing next to each other, chuckling as Anna fussed with Elsa's veil again, checking that the clip was secured under her hair.

"And you are SURE he didn't see you today."

"Anna-"

"What! I just want to make sure!"

Elsa chuckled, picking up her small bouquet of flowers and stepped over to the door entrance as she heard the music change.

"Come on, that's the signal that everyone is seated."

Anna creeped out ahead of her, leaning forward around the corner to see up to the altar.

"Yeah, Jack's up there. Where is Jamie?"

"Right here," Jamie said, causing Anna to jump back from her hunched position.

"Oh, Hi," she said in a whisper, stepping back and straightening her skirt.

Anna was wearing a tea length light blue dress, a matching ribbon threaded carefully through her hair. Jamie wore a suit with the same light blue as the accenting colors. He gave Anna a nervous smile and turned to look at Elsa.

"Ready when you are."

In their effort to keep the wedding a small and intimate affair, Jamie and Anna were the only two walking down ahead of Elsa, thus making for a very short procession. Elsa stood up straighter, adjusting her gloves and smiled at them, placing her bouquet before her and nodded.

"I'm ready."

Jamie smiled, offering his arm out for Anna and they moved together to stand at the top of the aisle, waiting for the music to change. Elsa took a deep breath as they stepped forward, disappearing around the corner.

She had had the option of letting her grandfather walk her down the aisle and give her away, but had gently declined the offer. If anyone was going to walk her down and give her away, it would have been her father. And as he was no longer able to do so, she would embark on this next journey to the next part of her life alone, but with her head held high and full of hope. Her parents would be happy to have Jack with her, they had liked him then and they certainly would now.

The music changed again, signalling that it was her turn to walk. Another deep breath, a big smile and she stepped forward, turned and slowly walked down the cloth covered aisle. The gathered guests all stood, turning and smiling at her, some clicking cameras and the professional photographer jumping in front of her to quickly snap multiple photographs.

And then she looked up, and her eyes met Jack's. And everything else around her melted away as she saw him smiling at her, his eyes shining as he stared at her. The music, her song that she had thought about for weeks that she wanted to hear, didn't matter as she ignored her measured steps and made her way towards him. He grinned, leaning sideways slightly as Jamie turned to whisper something in his ear and nodded in agreement.

She smiled, unable to help herself do anything else just then as she reached him, holding out her hand to take his. She turned, handing her flowers back to Anna before turning back to Jack, who still beamed at her.

"Hi," he whispered.

"Hi," she whispered back, trying not to laugh.

The words of the ceremony were a muffled blur, as she repeated her words carefully at the chosen moments, still unable to stop smiling with the happy moments of everything surrounding her.

"And now," came the officiant's deep baritone. "By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss your bride."

Jack's hands came up almost immediately, to cup her face, pressing his lips to hers as their gathered loved ones clapped and cheered. She laughed, bringing her arms up to wrap around his neck and kissed him back.

"Hi," he said again, resting his forehead on hers.

She smiled at him. "Hi."

He wagged his newly ringed left hand. "You're stuck with me now."

She leaned her head back and laughed.

* * *

Naomi sighed beside her. "There a husband store around here? I could use one like that."

Elsa laughed, smiling at her.

"You two gonna keep having girly time or are you going to do your job Naomi?" Hugh said, leaning back over his shoulder as he tried to pull the wheelchair through a door.

Naomi rolled her eyes, hurrying forward. "Oh shut it," she said. "You don't understand, you're already married. Though I have no idea how your wife puts up with your SUNNY demeanor."

"I give her money," Hugh responded, giving her a cheeky smile. "Now come on, let's get him inside so we can get him going. I'd like to be home for dinner."

"What exactly am I going to be doing?" Jack asked as they wheeled him inside.

"Walking on the water treadmill," Hugh said, pointing ahead of them. "Should be lots of fun."

Jack glanced back up at Hugh, a confused look on his face. "I thought those were for dogs."

Naomi snorted with laughter. "This is gonna be fun."

Elsa gulped, trailing behind as the therapists began Jack's session for the day. Things had the potential to get interesting and entertaining.

* * *

_Hope you enjoyed it! Please review, Love! Aria_


	12. Chapter 12

A week and a half of physical therapy in the aquatics center was slowly doing it's job, helping Jack to rebuild his strength back up. Hugh and Naomi had to help physically put him back in his bed after his first session, exhaustion from the session and being out of bed, combined with pain and discomfort from it all had been a little too much for him that first day. He'd dosed himself with his pain medication after he'd gotten settled back in his bed, smiling at them as they left and gone to sleep for the rest of the night.

They pushed him though, as far as they could and as far as he needed for his recovery. And each day he was able to do a little bit more. The watermill, as Jack affectionately called it, was a rather clever design Elsa had found.

The track for the patient to walk on was enclosed in a glass case that sealed up, then filled with as much water as was wanted. They fitted Jack into a special harness, being careful with his injured ribs, that lifted much of his weight off his legs and allowed them to measure how much weight was being put on his injured leg.

Then, once he was all fitted in and ready to go, they turned the track on to a very slow pace. Jack had trouble moving his leg at first, the metal appliances around his leg making it awkward but all of the metal inside of his leg, reshaping the bone that had broken or shattered, also made it strange to walk.

Several times they stopped the track altogether, letting him relax from the effort. While there was hardly any of his body weight on his leg, moving it through the shin deep water took more effort than he was used to.

He traded curses and insults with Hugh regularly, the trainer coaxing and edging him to continue on with the exercise. The water treadmill was expensive, and the facility only had two, so getting time for Jack to use it required some finesse and good timing, Hugh didn't plan on wasting a moment of it.

Day after day they worked on the treadmill, slowly, very slowly, having Jack walk again. Each night after the two hour session, Jack was happy to return to his bed. He'd scowled and protested upon hearing that he wouldn't be getting his daily sessions for the Thanksgiving weekend, the therapists having Thursday and Friday off to spend with their families.

"Jack," Elsa told him, giving him a patient smile. "They deserve Thanksgiving just as much as you do."

"It's not that," he said. "I just want to get out of here. I'm tired of just sitting around, doing a whole lot of nothing. Physical therapy is the only thing I get to do each day, and talk to you. I want to get back to my studio."

She smiled at him, squeezing his hand gently. Jack missing his studio didn't come as much of a surprise to her, knowing the long hours he spent there regularly. And, if he was this eager to get back, he likely had an idea brewing in his mind that he was itching to get onto canvas.

"You'll be out of here soon enough," she said. "Naomi was saying they are going to start training you for crutches this next week. And, once you're strong enough for that, then you'll get to go home and we will just have to come back for your therapy as an outpatient."

"Thank god," he said, beaming up at the ceiling. "Crutches can't be that hard to use."

"I wouldn't know," she said, giving a shrug. "You'll find out soon enough I suppose."

"You're going to need to bring in some sharpies for those, as soon as I get them," he said.

"Sharpies?"

"ART," he said. "I must art."

She snorted. "I can only imagine what you would do if they gave you a cast."

"You know, I'm actually bummed they didn't. I would have done some really cool shit. But no, I get the metal contraption from some sci-fi movie."

She laughed, shaking her head and glancing up with a smile when a knock came at the door.

"Yes?" she asked, leaning over to see who it was.

"Hi!" Anna's voice said, bustling into the room with two large bags held over each arm."

Kristoff trailed in behind her, looking slightly worried as he watched her move quickly into the room. She set the bags down in a chair, turning to hug her sister.

"Sorry we're a little late, traffic on 95 is a NIGHTMARE," she said, shrugging out of her jacket.

"Well, day before Thanksgiving, it is to be expected," Elsa said, watching as Anna moved over to Jack in his bed.

Anna leaned over the bed and hugged Jack, squeezing his shoulders before pulling back, smiling at him.

"You look better and better each time we come to see you!" she said, grinning at him. "You'll be out of here in no time."

"As soon as I can get around on my own," Jack replied, shrugging. "Gotta learn how to get around properly, gimp leg and all."

Kristoff stepped forward, offering his hand out to shake and grinned down at Jack.

"Where are the girls?" Jack said, holding his arms out after a moment. "I haven't seen them since I've been in here."

"I didn't want to bring them and have them jumping on your bed, or your leg," Anna said, turning to open the large bag she'd set on the chair. "Lisbet is in a jumping stage and Carien is climbing on everything, a hospital with you having a broken leg didn't seem like the best place."

"You are fine," Elsa said, standing to help her sister. "This all smells good. I hope this wasn't too much trouble for you."

Jack clapped his hands. "Thanksgiving dinner early, you ladies spoil me. I love it."

Kristoff snorted.

Anna turned slightly and smiled back at Jack, who was grinning madly from his bed.

"No, not at all," she said, pulling plastic containers out of the bag. "Have to keep Jack happy afterall. We can't have the Thanksgiving dinner fiasco happening again, now can we?"

"Damn straight."

Elsa chuckled, shaking her head. As Norwegians, Anna, Elsa and Kristoff (and Bulda as well), hadn't really fully grasped how important a holiday Thanksgiving was for some Americans. They had done their own small celebrations, more of a nice family meal, when their parents were still alive but hadn't really thought much of it. The fall after they had passed, when Jack and Elsa were living together, she hadn't put much thought into it until Jack had asked about it the night before. And had been appalled to learn that she had nothing more than a nice, regular meal planned for the next day.

Their first Thanksgiving together, and the night before, was spent with Jack, Elsa and Anna wading through several packed grocery stores with Jack listing off items that HAD to be included for dinner while Anna frantically looked up recipes through a cookbook Elsa had thought to bring along.

"We are going to your mother's house this weekend," Elsa had said to him. "Why do we need dinner on Thursday night as well?"

"BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO," he had told her, pulling a frozen turkey out of the freezer and carefully laying it into the cart.

"Is that going to have time to thaw?" Anna had asked, looking dubiously at the bird.

"It will work," Jack had said, pulling the cart forward. "Now then, PIE."

The entire next day had been a series of curses, burnt dishes and a frantic call to Bulda at one point, who arrived shortly after with her bemused son in tow.

They hadn't had Thanksgiving dinner that Thursday night.

"So, Jack," Kristoff said, holding a container that Anna held out for him. "Elsa says you both think you're having a girl? Anna will drown you in girl clothes if so, I think she saved everything of Lisbet and Carien's."

Jack shook his head, setting down the cup of water he had been taking a sip from. "No, definitely not a girl. Totally a boy."

Elsa paused, glancing over at him. "And what makes you so sure this time? I don't go see the doctor for my next ultrasound until next week."

"Because!" Jack said, leaning forward with an eager grin. "You see, with a boy, I only have to worry about where he is, and worry about his penis when he gets older. If he's home, I know he's good. With a girl, I have to worry about EVERY penis around her, every boy, always. It's totally a boy that we are having."

He sat back with a self-satisfied smirk on his face as he watched the three of them pause and look at each other. Anna opened her mouth to say something, paused as she thought of something and closed it, looking over at Kristoff.

"You know, he's got a point," Kristoff said, looking slightly penseive.

"Oh," Anna said, shoving a plastic plate at him. "Don't you even start."

Elsa turned to look at him, a look of amused annoyance on her face. "Where do you come up with these things?"

He shrugged, gesturing to his bed. "I can't do anything, I got a lot of time to think. It's a dangerous thing."

"What if we do have a girl?"

"Chastity belt, a la Robin Hood Men in Tights style," he said, moving his hands behind his head. "I told you, I got this shit figured OUT."

Elsa rolled her eyes and turned back to helping to prepare his food.

"What if she likes girls?" Anna asked, spooning a helping of potatoes onto a plate.

"Then I can cancel the order on the princess tower for the house," he replied. "Which, is good because I don't think the homeowners association allows moats with gators in them."

That made them all laugh.

"What? You all think I'm kidding. I was a teenage boy, I know the shit we think about. With a boy, I can sit him down and go "Hey, don't do this, it's not nice."," Jack explained. "With a girl, I just gotta tell her, hope she believes me and try not to murder some teenage asshole when she comes home crying."

Elsa looked over at him, surprised and smiled warmly at him.

"What?" he said, looking over at them as they stopped to look at him. "There is a method to all this madness."

He pointed at his head.

"Now, food. Please? I'm hungry."

"You're always hungry," Anna said. "You're 33 going on 13."

"And loving every damn minute of it! You brought pie, right?"

Elsa shook her head, grinning as she and Anna helped to prepare his dinner. Some things would never change.

"And the gløgg? Please tell me you brought that too?"

"I brought a juice version, no alcohol," Anna said, pulling a thermos canister out of the bag and walking it over to Jack.

"What?" he exclaimed. "Non-alcoholic? What are you, nurse Ratchet?"

Elsa brought his plate over, smiling and shaking her head at him.

"You didn't even want to have it the first time we tried having Thanksgiving, now you refuse to not have Thanksgiving without it," she said, holding out plastic utensils for him.

"Because it's delicious," he said. "I would not have said that if I had known how delicious it was. Plus, you didn't say there was alcohol in it. WHICH THERE IS NOT NOW."

"I think the last thing you need right now is alcohol," Elsa said, crossing her arms. "Besides, if I can't have any, you can suffer with me."

He paused for a moment, looking at her and then glanced down at her stomach. He looked back at his plate, sighing.

"Touche, wife, touche."

They all settled back into the chairs, Jack happily tucking into his dinner with glee while Elsa picked through the leftovers, grinning over at her sister.

"So what are we going to do tomorrow then?" she asked, eating a bit of turkey.

"I dunno," Anna said, shrugging. "We could go start working on painting the nursery at your house if you want."

Jack gasped, looking up at her with an affronted look on his face. "What? You can't paint without me!"

Elsa chuckled, her shoulders moving up and down in merriment as she took another bite. "We can at least get a base coat on the walls before you come home and start to work your magic."

"Besides," Anna continued. "We need to start getting the furniture assembled and getting everything in place. She's going to be here before you know it."

"He," Jack said, resuming eating. "And you can't paint without me. You don't know what shades I want."

Elsa rolled her eyes. "You don't know what shades you want. You've been debating for months. We can at least prime the walls. Besides, Anna is right, we need to start getting things into the room, it's taking up too much space in Kristoff's workroom."

Jack studied his plate, pushing around his vegetables while he chewed. "Bring in my color wheel, since you're so determined to start. I'll just go with my gender neutral option that I was thinking of."

"You had multiple ideas going?"

He glanced up at her, an affronted look on his face. "Of course I do, was trying to wait until we knew the sex. But as the squid is being difficult, totally a trait of yours, I shall have to go with the neutral option."

"Stop calling her that," Elsa and Anna said at the same time, causing Jack to grin up at them.

"And the battle of the sex continues," Kristoff muttered, smiling at both of them.

The rest of the long holiday weekend went by quietly, Jack choosing the color that he wanted with the demand that Elsa get a sample of the paint to bring to him first, wanting to make sure the coloring was right. Amused, and knowing the fit he would have otherwise, she'd done as he'd asked, watching as he carefully tested out the paint out with a small brush she'd brought on a piece of cardstock.

He frowned at it, waving the paper to dry the paint and added another coat, turning it to the sunlight and painted more off to the side, not saying anything.

"It's a pretty shade of green," she said, still watching him test the color.

"Yeah, it's not quite right though," he replied, his tone distant. "Needs a little more red. Got a pencil, you can take this back to them."

She smiled, digging in her purse and producing a pen, holding it out for him. "You do know that it's just a local college kid mixing the paints, right?"

"Yeah," he said, scribbling a note on the paper. "Which is why I'll be very clear in my instructions. Too bad that one small shop closed down kinda close to our house, the guy there let me mix my own paint."

"After you made him remix the paint for you six times," she countered.

"If he'd just did what I had told him it would have come out right," he said, looking up at her. "I know what I'm doing."

"Yes dear," she said, taking back the paper from him. "So you've said, several times before."

He grinned up at her. "Love you too. Just make sure you get plenty of paint when you order it, you know it never comes out the same when you reorder paint."

Monday came, and with it the reappearance of Hugh, Naomi and physical therapy. Jack grinned as they came into the room, pushing the now familiar wheelchair for him, and clapped his hands together.

"Alright! About time you two showed up, I'm ready to get out of this bed. Crutches today, right?"

Hugh smirked at him. "Maybe, if you're good."

"Awww, come on, don't be like that," Jack said, his hands falling into his lap. "I'm ready to get out of here, I'm going stir crazy. I have a nursery to paint now."

Hugh raised an eyebrow. "Can't you just hire someone to paint the walls for you?"

Naomi chuckled as they moved to help Jack move from his bed to the wheelchair.

"Haven't you been paying attention, Skippy? Jacky boy is an artist."

Jack grinned at Hugh. "Yeah, so, less snark, more crutches," he said, paused and smiled wider. "Skippy."

Hugh scowled, glaring at Naomi. "I told you not to call me that."

"Skippy. I like that," Jack said, beaming up at Hugh. "It's rather fitting. Skippy-roo."

"Now see what you've done?" Hugh asked her, gesturing down at him.

"What?" Naomi said, holding her hands up innocently. "It's not my fault the kids on the peds unit thought you were a 'roo, not the Easter Bunny when you got dressed up last Spring."

He glared harder as Jack burst into laughter in the chair, a grinning Naomi pushing him past Hugh.

"She's done it now," Elsa commented, walking behind with Hugh and trying not to laugh herself. "You know he's not going to forget a nickname like that."

Hugh glowered ahead of them. "Don't I know it."

That evening, after much complaining and several ice packs for his sore muscles, Jack sat with a pile of colored Sharpies in his lap, happily adding designs to his newly acquired crutches.

"Aren't you worried the ink will come off though? You're going to be using them a lot," she asked, watching as he carefully stared at the silver poles and steadily added small bits of color.

"No," he said, placing a marker in his mouth for a moment while he fiddled with the cap. "Cause I want you to take them to Kristoff and have him clear coat them."

"Really?" she asked, giving him a bemused look.

"Yes really, these are going to be awesome, I can't have them fading on me."

She chuckled, shaking her head.

"Alright, alright," she said. "I can go over tomorrow after my doctor's appointment."

"It's going to be a boy, I can feel it."

She let out a laugh. "I can feel the baby just fine and I haven't a clue."

"Oh yeah? I thought you were convinced it was a girl."

"I was, then the baby does something to my bladder when I'm in the middle of something, or gives me some crazy strange craving and I'm convinced it's a miniature you."

"Like craving what?"

"Hot sauce."

"Hey, hot sauce it awesome, don't you start knocking hot sauce."

"With pickles."

"That actually sounds pretty good."

"SEE?"

He glanced up, smiling at her. "Guess we will find out soon enough."

"Yeah. Have you looked through the baby book anymore?"

He grimaced. "No."

"Jack," she said, a weary tone in her voice.

"What?" he said. "I helped with my sister when she was younger, it can't be that hard."

"I meant the one with names."

"Oh, no."

"Jack!"

"We should do Emma if it's a girl, that is some awesome Marvel stuff right there."

"Jack," Elsa said warningly.

"Then again, she has a pretty skimpy outfit, so maybe not. Plus, Jamie's girl is named Emma. That would get a little weird."

Elsa leaned her head down into her hand and shook her head. "You aren't taking this very serious."

"Sure I am," he said. "I got 4 more months to come up with more awesome names. Frost is an awesome last name. We could always do Robert for a boy, and hope he is just a really good writer."

She chuckled at that one. "Rather high expectation there, don't you think?"

"Mom named me Jack, you don't see me hopping around being winter, and nipping at noses do you? How does one nip at a nose, exactly? I've always wondered that."

"I think it's just an expression. What about Hayden?"

He frowned. "Is that a girl name or a boy name?"

"Either."

He shrugged, looking back down at the crutch. "It's okay."

She groaned, pulling her book back out and started flipping back through, looking for more names. "You aren't making this easy."

"I think that's my unofficial nickname. Mom told me that a lot when I was a kid. Why don't we just wait until we know what it is? That kinda eliminates half the names. There, that's one done, now onto the other."

She sighed, flipping through the book and occasionally saying a name aloud to him as he worked on his second crutch. The simple familiarity of him working on another of his art projects while she researched something important for the both of them an ease for the both of them, a calm point in the chaos that had been the weeks prior.

* * *

_Hope you enjoyed this chapter, please review and let me know what you thought! Love! Aria_


	13. Chapter 13

_Alrighty all, this is the last full chapter of Heliotrope! It has been a fun journey, but this was my plan all along. I have no plans for a sequel series, and I have so many other stories floating around that I'm very, very happy with how this has turned out. I hope that you have enjoyed the story thus far and that you will enjoy this chapter as well. I do have an epilogue planned, though I don't know if I'll be able to get it posted with this chapter, it depends on how everything comes together. Enjoy, and please tell me what you think after. Love, Aria._

_Also, for anyone wanting to know what color of green the room is being painted, here you go. Sherwin Williams (SW 6731 Picnic), RGB Value (R - 150, G - 197, B - 135), Hexadecimal Value: #96C587). If I could put in a link, I would, but alas, I cannot._

* * *

Elsa bent over laughing, holding her paint roller away from the wall as she giggled uncontrollably at the joke that Anna has just told her. She glanced up to see her sister's pleased and amused face looking over at her from the other wall, her own green stained roller poised just off the wall. Paint splattered drop cloths covered the floor around them, with trays of paint laid carefully between them and an open paint bucket with it's lid leaning against it sitting out of the way. The window was open, despite the cold air coming in, to help vent the fume ridden room.

Beside Anna, were her two little girls, both of them had streaks of green paint on their faces and in their hair with the clothes they had on obviously ruined as they wielded small, mostly dry paint brushes and attempted to help the older sisters with the painting.

Elsa took in a deep breath, trying to calm her own laughter as she shook her head at Anna.

"That was a bad joke, very bad."

"You laughed though," Anna pointed out, bending to refresh the paint on her roller before turning back to her expanse of wall. "So it must not have been THAT bad."

"It was a BAD joke," Elsa reaffirmed, beginning to paint the wall again. "Very bad. Where did you hear that one?"

Anna shrugged. "Read it online somewhere."

Elsa chuckled again, slowly working their way around to change the plain white walls into the soft green color that Jack had picked out. Bending, she went to refresh her own roller and picked up the can to add more paint to the tray, emptying the last of the can. She straightened, looking around the room.

"That can got us further than I thought it would," she commented, pleased to see that the room was almost covered.

"Yeah, but Jack is going to want a second coat, right?"

"At least," she said, holding the can over the tray to allow the last bits of paint to drain out. "But I bought the good kind, two coats should be plenty."

"How many gallons did you buy though?"

"Four," she said, smiling up at Anna. "I know Jack after all."

Anna laughed, bending her head back as she continued to paint. "I can't wait to see what he does in here, when is your appointment? You might find out the gender then, right?"

"Tomorrow! I hope so, I'm so curious. This week has been hell on me; cramps, more stretch marks, and now I have that line thing that I was warned about."

Elsa lifted her shirt with her free hand to show the dark line that ran vertically from the top of her stomach and disappeared under the stretched waistband of her maternity jeans. Anna grinned widely at her.

"Ahh, isn't pregnancy wonderful? Bet you won't tease me about swimsuit shopping anymore. Has Jack been able to feel the baby moving yet?"

"Haha, nope. Every time I feel him moving and Jack tries to, he either stops or moves away, it's actually kind of funny."

Anna laughed, stopping quickly when Carien started to cry loudly beside her, causing them both to look down. Lisbet had managed to dip her dry paintbrush into the paint while they weren't looking, and little Carien's face was now covered in green paint, and it looked like she didn't like the taste of the paint that was on her lips as well.

"Lisbet!" Anna scolded, pulling the paintbrush out of her hand. "You are supposed to paint the walls, not your sister!"

"But the walls are painted," Lisbet said, patting one with a small hand. "Can I have a snack?"

Anna sighed, glancing up at the ceiling while Elsa struggled not to laugh.

"Why don't you go clean Carien up and I'll get Lisbet something to eat?" she offered, giving her younger sister a helpful smile.

"I suppose I should be glad it isn't lead based paint," Anna murmured, setting her roller down in the paint tray and bending to scoop up her younger, crying daughter.

Elsa glanced down at her elder niece and smiled at her. "What would you like for a snack? We can't have you ruining your supper."

Lisbet considered, a smile coming across her face. "Cookies?"

Elsa smiled back. "Cookies are for little girls who don't paint their sisters green. How about some carrots instead?"

Lisbet thought for a moment before giving a nod. "I like carrots too. So does Sven, Daddy says he's a strange dog."

"Sven is a very strange dog," Elsa agreed, leading the girl out of the room for her snack. Perhaps it was a good time for them all to take a break.

* * *

The next evening, after a long and nerve wracking rainy drive from Silver Spring up to Baltimore Elsa made her way inside Johns Hopkins with her purse slung over one arm and a bag of food clutched in the other while she balanced her umbrella against the continuing downpour of cold rain. She grimaced as she stepped into a puddle that was deeper than it looked, the cold damp creeping up the bottoms of her legs.

She kept her head down this time as she entered, closing and shifting the umbrella in her grasp as she made her way down and around the sterile halls of the hospital with the bright harsh lights making a stark contrast against the dark and gloomy weather outside that she had just come inside from.

As the elevator dinged and the doors opened, she glanced up to step off and paused and felt herself blink as she stared at Jack and Naomi standing before the elevator as well. Jack was perched carefully on his crutches, a wide belt around his middle that Naomi had a firm hold on behind him.

"HI!" she said, smiling around Jack as he turned to smile at her. "You're just in time for us to finish our practice."

Elsa quirked a brow, looking over Jack. His right leg was planted firmly on the ground, while his left was off the ground and shifted forward slightly. His hands were gripped firmly on each of the crutch handles as concentrated to balance his weight evenly. Naomi stood calmly behind him, ready to help catch him if he fell. She noticed that something large was missing though.

"What happened to your IV tree?" she asked, moving to step behind Naomi as the therapist gestured for Jack to continue back down the hall to his room.

"It's back in the room," he said, grunting as he swung himself forward. "They took me off the IV pain meds, put me on pills. So, no reason for the tree anymore, one step closer to getting out of here. Once I convince the dictator here I can get around well enough, I can go."

Elsa glanced at Naomi curiously.

Naomi gave her a smile as she took a large step forward to keep up with Jack's slow but steady pace back down the hall.

"He's a fall risk because of the crutches, and with all his numerous injuries we have to make sure that he's fully comfortable using them before we can sign off on his discharge. It doesn't look good on us if he's back in here next week with another broken bone from a fall, or if he messes his leg up."

She gave an agreeing nod, she made sense with her argument as much as she wanted Jack home, and as much as he wanted to get out of here, hurting himself wouldn't help either of them.

Jack stopped in the hall, putting his head down on his chest and breathed for a moment, chuckling.

"This is harder than I thought it was going to be," he said, glancing back at Elsa.

She gave him a smile and held up the bag with his dinner in it. "Some encouragement?"

He chuckled, turning back around to take a few more halting steps down the hall to his room and carefully turning into the doorway. His broad shoulders were made wider with the crutches and took him a few moments before he was swinging across to his bed again. He turned and sat down hard with a long sigh of relief, the color covered crutches held out in one hand for Naomi to take from him. She did, leaning them against the wall while he bent his head to work on undoing the support belt around his midsection and also holding it out for her. Naomi threaded the belt through the end of the hospital bed, ready for the next time it was needed and smiled at the both of them.

"See you tomorrow then, have a good night," she said, waving at them as she turned and walked back out the door.

Jack sighed, carefully turning and pulling his left leg up onto the bed before flopping back onto his pillow and turning his head to look at her.

"This sucks," he said. "This really, really sucks. Leg fractures take forever to heal. Though, I should just be thankful my hands are okay."

She gave him a pitying smile, setting his dinner down on his tray before turning and sitting herself.

"You'll be fine," she said. "You'll be getting around just fine on those in no time. You weren't doing badly just now."

He smiled at her, reaching forward and unpacking the packaged food items onto the bed tray.

"Yeah, but slowly and it took a lot out of me. I'm just amazed at how much strength I lost."

There were silent for several moments as he began to eat his meal, Elsa rubbing her hand over her forehead at the headache that had begun to form there from the long afternoon she had had.

"How was your appointment?" he asked, shoving a handful of fries into his mouth.

"Fine, fine. Everything looked good. Follow up in two weeks again. She gave me some potassium supplements to help with the leg cramps."

He nodded. "Hopefully that helps. Were they able to see the gender this time?"

Elsa smiled and bent into her purse, pulling out a small, sealed white envelope and held it up for him to see, not answering him.

He glanced over, paused and his eyes widened, a smile breaking out over his own face. "They could? Is that it? It's in there?"

She nodded, grinning more. "Yeah, the technician said it was really clear this time and she could definitely see it."

"Well, open it!" he said, gesturing at her. "Let's see, I want to know."

She bit her lip, glancing down at it sheepishly and looked back up at him.

"What? No, no no no," he said, looking warily at her. "I know that face. I don't like that face. You're planning something."

"Well," she started, turning the envelope over in her hands. "When I was at the office, I told them that I didn't want them to tell me at the office. That if she saw it, to write it down and we would find out later, together. And she asked me if it was for a gender reveal party."

"What the fuck is that?" he asked, giving her a confused look.

"Well, it's where I take this," she held up the envelope. "To a bakery, and they make a cake with the inside cake or the filling being the color of the gender, either pink or blue. Then we throw a party, cut open the cake and we see what the gender of the baby is that way."

He stared at her for a moment. "No. That is stupid. Open it."

"Jack."

"OPEN IT!" he said, giving her an exasperated look. "We've been waiting for how long and now you want to wait for a stupid cake?"

"It would be fun!"

"FOR WHO? The baker?"

"Jack," she said again, giving him a wary look. "We're already planning that holiday party in a couple weeks, and your mom and sister will be there, we can do it then."

"That is three more weeks away!" he cried. "No, open it."

"Jack, please," she said, giving him a tired look. "It will be nice."

He leaned his head back against his pillow, looking up at the ceiling. "You aren't giving this up, are you?"

"Nope," she agreed, sliding the envelope back into her purse.

"You know there are sometimes I really don't like you."

"I love you too dearest," she said, pulling out her latest baby book and smiling over at him as he resumed his meal.

He grumbled for several minutes more, scowling down at his tray as he did so.

"The green in the nursery looks wonderful, you certainly knew what you were doing," she said, smiling up at him.

"Of course I did," he said, pouting. "How many coats did you put on the walls?"

"Two."

He nodded. "That should be good. Now to just get out of here so I can finish things up."

"Should I start calling you the crutch master?"

He snorted at her, grinning at her. "Give me a week, then you can."

A week and a half later, after each day of slowly working more and more towards being able to give himself around better and better on his own, Naomi and Hugh were able to give Jack the clearance for his discharge. He was slotted for outpatient physical therapy with both of them daily at the aquatic center, all of them pleased that he was able to do more exercises with his routine to help continue re-strengthening his leg. His healing was progressing well, everything would just take time.

Jack waited impatiently in his hospital bed, his discharge papers sitting ahead of him while he waited for the orthopedic Physician Assistant to come into his room and remove the metal braces that surrounded his leg. He would be fitted with a special brace while his femur continued to heal but it would allow more movement of his leg, and allow him to put some weight on it. He was excited for the latter.

Every set of approaching footsteps, Jack was leaning forward in his bed to try and see if it was the PA coming into his room.

"They will be here soon enough," Elsa told him, turning a page in a magazine while they waited. "You aren't the only patient you know."

He scowled. "I've been in here too long," he said. "I forget what it smells like outside. I gotta get out of here."

"You want to remember what Baltimore smells like?" she asked, a wry grin on her face. "Goodness, you do want to get out of here."

A knock at the door had Jack cheering.

"Yay! My saviour has come!"

The small Latino woman that entered smiled at him, setting her armful of items down on the bed next to him while she chuckled.

"I don't know that I've ever been called that before," she said, looking between the couple. "I take it you are ready to get out of her Mr. Frost."

"Yes," he replied quickly. "Yes, yes please."

She smiled at him. "Well then, let us get you out of this contraption."

An hour later, after the PA had removed the large metal brace and fit him with the new one, and after she'd made him walk around a little bit with the new brace and the crutches to make sure it was fitting right, Jack was finally free to go. He almost bounced with excitement as he smiled at the nurses while making their way down the hall to the elevators for the last time from the orthopedic unit, gleefully jabbing the down button to leave.

She pointed the way around to the exit, trailing behind him as he carefully made his way out with a nurse following with a wheelchair. It was hospital protocol that patients leave in wheelchairs, however Jack was having none of it and stubbornly insisted on leaving on his own two feet. He did consent to waiting for her to pull up the car to the curb of the hospital.

There was a cool, familiar sense of relief of having him in the car with her as she drove south on the long stretch of road that took them from Baltimore back down to the D.C. area. She had the heater on full blast as Jack had the window rolled halfway down, enjoying the fresh air coming into the car. She couldn't complain as smiled over at him, she was happy to have him coming home with her.

They talked about random conversational topics, filler items to pass the time as they made their way south. He told her about some of the plans he had for painting the nursery, she told him about some updates from work and how she would start working from home in the next week, since she wouldn't be spending her entire day in the hospital any more.

Jack asked her again about the baby's gender, and she calmly told him that the envelope had already been dropped off at the bakery, and the cake would be delivered the morning of the party. He scowled and looked out the window silently the rest of the ride home after that.

She pulled into the garage, the large empty space where Jack's car would be a reminder of what had happened only two months prior. That, and the permanent reminder that would be the long scar on Jack's leg. She pulled into the middle of the concrete slab, thumbing the button to close the door down behind her while Jack opened his own door and began to carefully work his way out.

"Welcome home," she said, holding open the door for him as he carefully made his way inside, making carefully measured steps.

He smiled at her, sighing as they both made it inside and the door closed. She moved past him, working her way to the kitchen table and set down her purse and the bags of items that he had been keeping in with him in his hospital room.

"Good to be home," he said, chuckling as Olaf came running around the corner into the kitchen, meowing loudly and looking up at him. "Hi buddy, I missed you too."

The long haired cat rubbed up against his leg, purring loudly and looking up at him with the expectation of being picked up.

"Sorry bud," he said, bending down to scratch the cat's ear. "You gotta walk today, I need all my limbs."

Elsa chuckled, watching the two of them interact and yawned. "Goodness, I could use a nap. The little one this morning and bringing you home this afternoon has worn me out."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "This morning?"

She nodded. "May not be very big still, but certainly knows how to move to the right places."

He smiled at her. "A nap doesn't sound too bad, I've missed the bed."

"I bet you have," she said. "It's been weird not having you in it."

They both made their way back to the bedroom, he much slower than her, which gave her time to change out of her day clothes and back into her comfortable nightgown. The steady rhythm of the "click-step, click-step" that was made by Jack making his way in on his crutches grew steadily louder as she bustled about. He wasn't quick with the crutches, but he was much steadier than he had been before.

He sat down heavily on his side of the bed, shaking his head and smiling up at her. "I'm so quick to leave one bed to get right back into another, it's amazing."

She smiled at him, holding out a pair of lounge pants for him and taking her arm back when he shook his head.

"No, too much work," he said, bending to undo the laces on his shoes and carefully removing them and tossing them aside. He stood again, undoing the fastening on his pants and let them drop as well, the denim pooling at his feet and carefully stepped out of them before sitting back down.

She shrugged, setting the pants on the top of his dresser and watching as he carefully undid the brace on his leg. He carefully took note of how each part went together, how each strap laid over and connected together for when he would need to put it back on. Finally, he removed the last part of it, carefully setting it down on the floor and laid the crutches down next to it before glancing up at her.

"Ready?" she asked, her arms crossed over her stomach.

He stuck his tongue out at her and pulled the covers out, carefully moving himself under and rolling to his right side and patting the expanse of bed of her side.

"Come on, you proposed this nap, now come sleep."

She smiled, stepping forward and slipping into bed as well. She turned, sighing happily as he pulled her close against him and hugged her close. They had both missed this closeness, the simple intimacy of simply being close to each other. She closed her eyes, her hand falling on top of his, her fingers lacing through his as she rested his hand on her swollen stomach. He kissed the back of her neck and her shoulder as they both settled down to enjoy a long needed sleep in the comfort of being close to each other.

A few moments later he sat up, looking down at her with an unreadable expression on his face, his hands still not moving. She frowned up at him.

"What is it?"

A slow smile spread over his face and he looked up at her, a look of awe, joy and disbelief covering his face.

"I can feel it," he said, his hand splaying out more on her stomach.

It took her a moment to comprehend what he was saying, the baby's movement's so active that day she had all but ignored them the last few hours. She smiled at him, watching at he continued to watch his hand with a reverent amazement, feeling their child move inside her for the first time.

"I told you that you would," she said. "She's just a little stubborn."

He glanced up at her. "Wonder who he gets that from."

Elsa laughed, both of them settling back down in bed as their little one moved and kicked beneath Jack's hand on her belly.

* * *

After Jack got settled back in a home, and Elsa got everything set up to start working from home, they both relaxed into a routine. They would both work in the mornings, Jack painting in the nursery while sitting on a barstool, a table with all of his paints laid out for easy reach and Elsa would be in the small office that they had, carefully going over notes and paperwork to catch herself up on everything that she had missed during her long absence. In the afternoons, just after lunch, they would both head back up north to the hospital for Jack's PT sessions with the ever charming Aussie duo.

Olaf busied himself between the two rooms, depending on which room had the best sunbeams and hands available for ear scratches. He was banished from the nursery on one occasion after he knocked over a carefully mixed palette of paints; Jack threatening to make cat stew out of him.

As the day of the holiday party approached, Elsa began to busy herself with the preparations, gathering ingredients for food items and calling the bakery to check on the cake order. She made hotel reservations for Diane and Pippa, confirming their plans with them and happily wishing them a safe flight.

The day of the party arrived, and Anna was over early with the girls to start making all of the snack items for the guests that would gather that evening. They laughed and joked as they worked in the kitchen, their mother's recipe book open on the counter as they crafted their favorite childhood recipes.

The first year that Jack and Elsa had hosted this holiday party, the sisters had done their best to create American dishes, while adding a few of their own favorites. Neither of them expected so many people to like, and be interested in more of their traditional, homeland dishes. So, as the years had gone on, less and less of the American dishes were made and more of the Norwegian ones were made. As Diane had told Elsa once, she could get those anywhere, or make them herself. She liked getting to try these new things once a year.

Flour, sugar and butter covered their aprons as they worked to create almond cakes and cookies, rumballs and bløtkake, savory potato cakes and cardamom buns, stuffed eggs and meatball snacks, lobster salad and cheese stuffed peppers. And, of course, the large quantity of gløgg that scented and wafted throughout the entire house.

Lisbet helped for a time, her small brows furrowed in concentration as Anna talked her through each of the different recipes and her small hands helped to craft each of the small bites. It was not long before she decided to go join her sister with Jack in the living room where he sat on the floor, his left leg carefully stretched out. An amazing array of colored pencils, crayons and chalk surrounded them, all laid out carefully on a bedsheet to protect the carpet, with a stack of coloring books and blank white paper for inspiration.

Carien drew madly on her pages, the colors a jumbled confusion on the page before she would pause to look over at Jack's own page, pointing at a figure and rattling off questions. Lisbet quickly settled in to the art session to make her own drawings, happily showing her work to her famous uncle.

"You have to make your signature," Jack told her at one point, signing his own drawing with a flourish of a blue crayon. "Gotta be able to show everyone that it is yours."

Lisbet leaned over, looking at the mark and leaned over her own picture. The tip of her tongue peaked out as she concentrated on signing her name before holding it up for him to see.

"Good job," he said, smiling at her and holding up his hand for a high five.

Lisbet beamed at him, bouncing up off the ground and running to show Anna her work. Elsa bent to pull a tray of food from the oven, jumping slightly when the doorbell rang.

"That should be the bakery," Elsa said, setting the tray down on the cooling rack and hurrying to answer the door.

Holding open the door, she smiled at the young man standing there dressed in a yellow tee emblazoned with the bakery's logo stood there, holding a piece of paper and smiled back at her.

"The, uh, Frost residence?" he asked, checking his paper quickly.

"Yes, you've got the right place," she said.

"Cool. Got your cake, let me go get it," he said, turning and skipping back down the pathway to the delivery van sitting in the drive.

She turned from the door, leaving it opened and looked around. Jack was moving to get up off the floor, shifting himself to sit on the furniture and then onto his crutches.

"So, we can open this now, right?" he asked, looking over at her.

She smiled at him, shaking her head. "No, tonight at the party. You've waited this long, you can wait a couple more hours."

He growled, turning and making his way into the kitchen area to pilfer from the freshly made snacks for that evening.

The delivery man returned, carefully carrying the two tiered cake on a silver covered board. The cake was covered in a smooth white fondant, with multicolored dots covering the surface of varying sizes. A large, sugar sculpted bow ordained the top of the cake, also keeping with the multi-colored theme.

"Set it over here," she said, indicating a space on the kitchen table and smiled at him.

He slid the cake down, making sure it was fully on the table before stepping back. She clapped her hands together, smiling widely as the whole design was revealed. The front display of the cake had "It's A" on the top tier in black letters, a stark contrast to the white background. Then, on the bottom layer was a large question mark with tiny pink and blue dots covering it.

"Oh, I love it," she said, smiling at it.

"If you could just sign here," the delivery man said, digging a pen and the now rumpled paper out of his pocket and setting it on the table next to the cake. "Then, everything is good."

Elsa nodded, bending to swipe her signature across the paper and straightening to look at the cake again.

"Is that all sugar?" Anna asked, coming over to look as well. "Like, the bow?"

Elsa nodded. "Yeah, they said they had someone who does sugar work really well. This is just, wow."

"Yeah," Anna breathed, bending forward to look close at it. "No, Lisbet, don't touch."

"No, Lisbet, get in there. You want a slice of cake?" Jack said, his voice carrying over from the kitchen.

The sisters both turned and glared at him. He laughed, grinning at them and popped another rumball into his mouth.

The afternoon went by quickly, the girls falling asleep for a nap while food was finalized and they started to arrange everything. Jack worked more in the nursery, being banished from the kitchen and dining area when he got a little too close to the cake. Elsa didn't think that he would ruin the surprise, and that he was just trying to rile her, but she certainly didn't want to tempt him either.

Kristoff was the first to arrive, fresh from work, and brought Bulda with him, who had a covered bowl of her own to contribute.

"Troll cream!" she said happily, setting the bowl down in the kitchen and uncovering it.

Elsa laughed. "Oh yum," she said, dipping her finger into the white cream and scooping up a berry. "I couldn't find lingonberries! Wherever did you get them?"

Bulda grinned. "I have my ways."

Slowly, and then steadily people started to arrive at the house. Diane and Pippa bustling in fresh from the airport, happy and delighted to see Jack in a much better state than they had two months ago when he was still in the hospital. Jamie and Emma arrived, also pleased to see Jack in much better health. The childhood friends had been in constant contact during Jack's last weeks in the hospital and Jamie had been at the house often after he'd returned.

More people arrived, friends from college and friends from work, everyone hugging and smiling and happy to see both of them in good health. Several of them making comments about Jack's colorful crutches, and even more begging to see the work he was doing in the nursery. Jack begrudgingly let them see the room, usually not liking to let people see partially finished works with the exception of Elsa.

The gathering slowly followed him down the hall, Jamie cracking a joke about his pace as Jack led the way on his crutches before he stopped and opened the door with a flourish.

The room still had the paint splattered drop clothes covered the floor, and his worktable was moved to the center of the room quickly as they all moved inside. All around the walls, against the green background that Elsa and Anna had painted as the base, was an assortment of animals playing.

Several were finished, some were half done, others were only outlined. Murmurs of awe and approval went around the room as their friends and family admired the static but still somehow animated figures of cats and dogs, dancing fish and fencing mice, giraffes and elephants playing with tigers and lions while dolphins and turtles held up numbers and letters with their large fins and flippers. There were images of birds of varying size and color hung for reference around the top of the room, a note of things to come.

The walls were full with so many amazing things to see but it all worked together flawlessly, the cartoony style of everything lending a fun and relaxed feel to the room.

"So, is it a boy or a girl?" someone asked as everyone admired Jack's work on the walls. "Do you know yet?"

Jack turned his head and gave Elsa a pointed look, holding a hand out at the asked question.

"NOW can we cut the damn cake?" he asked her, his hand falling back to rest on his crutch.

She laughed, smiling at him. "We do know the sex, kind of it. We are all going to find out together!"

"Oh I've heard about those!" Pippa said, working over to them. "You cut the cake and the cake is the color of the baby, right?"

Elsa nodded.

"And she's been TORTURING me for weeks with it. Wouldn't even let me ask the technician at her appointment earlier this week. Torture, plain and simple," he said, turning to make his way from the room while several people laughed behind him.

They made their way back to the dining area from the nursery, a small horde of people migrating from one area of the house to the other, and gathered around the table while Elsa and Jack stood in front of it, knife and server at the ready.

Glancing around to make sure that everyone was gathered, Elsa gave Jack a nervous look and held up the knife.

"You ready?" she said, biting her lower lip.

"Yes! Let's find out what the squid is already!"

More laughter from around the table as Elsa carefully inserted the knife into the cake, feeling guilty for the barest of moments for messing up the beautiful work but excited to see what was inside. Jack leaned close to her, watching as she pulled the knife out and made another cut, quickly setting it aside to slide the serving utensil in and pull the cake out, revealing the color.

"Pink or blue?" Anna asked excitedly.

Elsa pulled the slice out slightly, seeing the vibrant color of the cake and turned to Jack, smiling widely. He wrapped an arm around her, kissing her temple and smiled widely too.

"Finally!" he said, thrusting a fist in the air. "It is no longer a squid!"

Elsa laughed, holding up the colored slice for everyone to see to applause, cheers and congratulations.

"Now we just have to figure out the name!" she said, looking over at Jack.

"Ah, the battle continues," he said, wrapping her up in a hug, his crutches awkward against them but ignored. "I'm sure we can find a good one though."

She leaned up, unable to stop smiling. "I love you."

"I love you," he responded, kissing her.

* * *

_For the recipes that I referenced in this chapter, I used a link found by "Sons of Norway" (www. sofn. com)._

_Stay tuned as there will be an epilogue chapter coming very soon._

_Please review, let me know what you think! Love, Aria_


	14. Epilogue

**8 Months Later**

Rock music played softly in the background as Jack worked at an easel, tapping his foot along to the bassline of Nirvana as his eyes focused sharply on the brushstrokes he was carefully making. Every few moments he'd pause to refresh the paint on the bristles or lean back to get a better view of the overall canvas before nodding approval and leaning forward again. He wore an old college shirt, marred with paint stains and bleach marks and a pair of jeans that looked just as old.

He was in his studio now, no crutches to be found and both legs bent normally on the stool that he sat on. The studio space around him was small, cluttered with paint tubes and papers showing sketches and color values. The smells of turpentine and hot summer August air filled the room as he worked, a fan blowing air up onto him as he concentrated on the painting.

The door behind him squeaked as Elsa entered, her slippered feet padding softly across the concrete floor as she walked over to him, pausing beside him and rubbing a hand across his back. He finished his stroke and leaned back, turning and giving her a smile.

"Hayden asleep?" he asked, reaching his arms up over his head in a stretch.

She nodded. "Poor thing was so tired but didn't want to go to sleep."

He laughed softly, relaxing from his stretch. "Yeah, definitely stubborn."

She smiled and looked at the painting, lazily rubbing her hand over his back as she did, watching as he slowly added a few more strokes and dabs of paint to the nearly completed work.

"That's pretty," she commented, turning her head slightly. "Looks a little like us."

"It is," he affirmed. "Kind of. It's the only thing I remember about those crazy dreams I had from when I was in the hospital, I sketched it when I came out of that sedation coma thing. Kinda liked it, so I thought I would paint it."

She watched him work for a few more moments. "So I'm a Queen?"

He nodded. "Fitting I think, don't you?" he turned and grinned up at her.

She snorted. "And, an ice theme? Going a little heavy on the last name with this one, aren't we love."

"Ah, we both had ice powers in the dream," he said, moving his brush to work on a part of her dress. "And I could fly."

She chuckled, moving her hand up to feel his forehead. "My, my, they DID give you some good drugs, didn't they?"

He chuckled. "It was an interesting dream, I'll give you that. I'll put it up in the gallery, but I doubt it will sell."

She shook her head slightly, looking at it.

"Never know," she said. "Someone might be crazy enough to buy it."

He finished another stroke, leaned back again and nodded. "Yeah, that's good for tonight," he said, swirling the brush in a water filled mason jar.

Elsa yawned beside him as he gathered all the brushes he had used that evening in one hand and gestured for her to lead the way out of the small studio, his hand swinging down on the lightswitch as they walked through the garage, and then back into the house. She held the door open for him, laughing as he held his hands up to avoid getting paint on the door.

He headed for the kitchen, laying the used brushes in the deep basin and turning the water on warm, watching as the dirtied water swirled at the bottom with all the colors he'd used. He bent to open the cabinet to get the soap for cleaning out the acrylic paint, paused and smiled, noticing that she'd already set it out for him. He began to wash his brushes, and his hands, turning to glance at her as she came into the kitchen, setting a clean shirt on the counter for him.

"Think Hayden will sleep through the night again?" he asked, working at the brushes to get them clean as she leaned against the counter, watching him.

"I hope so," she said, yawning again. "I certainly hope so, I'm tired."

He chuckled. "What, you didn't get the parenting memo. No sleep anymore."

She laughed. "Oh no, I got it. It's just a little harder than I thought it would be."

He shut the water off in the sink, pulling paper towels out of the holder and laying them out, laying out his paint brushes to dry. Then, he turned and walked into the laundry room, pulling his shirt off and tossing it into the washer, his paint splattered jeans following shortly after, leaving him standing barefoot in a pair of gym shorts as he tossed a packet of detergent into machine.

After turning it on, he strolled back over to her, reaching behind her and pulling his clean shirt around her and then over his head.

"Better?" she asked when he was done, smiling at him as she watched.

"Yeah," he said, looking down at himself. "Mostly paint free."

She chuckled and leaned forward, wrapping her arms around his waist. "Let's go to bed, I'm tired. And tomorrow is Monday, beginning of the work week."

He kissed the top of her head, rubbing his hands up and down her arms. "I've got my last follow up with Dr. Layug for my leg. Should be my last appointment."

She nodded, turning and they both walked out of the kitchen, walking down the hall towards their bedroom. The wail of their child began as they stepped past the cracked doorway, causing them both to stop and look into the darkened room. Elsa groaned, her head rolling to rest on his chest.

He chuckled. "Go on, I'll be in in a few minutes, shouldn't take me long."

She nodded, sighing and shuffled forward into their room while he pushed the door to the nursery open and stepped inside, stopping at the side of the crib with the squalling infant laying inside. He bent and scooped up the red-faced baby, arms and legs kicking in the pale yellow onesie covered in small darker yellow ducks.

"Shhh, little one," he said, cradling the baby in his arms and rocking gently, bouncing the babe gently. "Shhhh."

He walked slowly around the room, speaking softly and rocking the small child. Eventually, after long cry-filled moments, the crying stopped and was replaced by sniffles and the eventually hiccup.

"There," he said, smiling down. "You just wanted a little more attention didn't you, upset I didn't come put you to bed. I was working you know."

The child gave him a smile, gurgling a laugh at Jack.

He laughed, stepping back to the crib and laying the baby back down, carefully laying a blanket back over the babe.

"You are my greatest masterpiece," he said, running his hand over his child's face. "Without a doubt."

**FIN**

* * *

Okay. So, BEFORE you storm off to give me hate for not giving you the baby's gender, I did that for a reason. _**So **PLEASE READ THIS**.**_

I didn't give the baby's gender for a reason, because while it is an important thing for Jack and Elsa, overall for the story, it isn't important. It doesn't matter for this story if their child is male or female! The baby has a unisex name, and if you feel the overwhelming need to choose between one or the other, than you decide for yourself. And it can be perfect that way.

You can have it that Jack and Elsa have the male child for their female cousins, or you can have that they had a female child for Jack to fret about as she grew older and older.

If the only thing that you can think about right now is "OMG ARIA DIDN'T TELL ME THE GENDER" then you are missing the point that I'm trying to show with the story. The ending of the story isn't about them finding out the sex of the baby, and then having the baby. The ending of the story is about their lives returning to normal after this MAJOR event happened in their life.

The beginning of the story starts with the interruption, the car accident that Jack gets HORRIBLY injured in. And then the middle and meat of the story is about Elsa coping and dealing with her husband being injured and slowly healing. She deals with this by remembering all the good that happened with him. Yes, you have the memory of her parents dying as well, but you also have him there, helping and supporting her. Then you move onto them both working through his recovery.

The last full chapter, Chapter 13, is to show you that they are finally being able to return to their normal lives, a normal routine after having this major disruption to their lives from this accident. And this epilogue finalizes that return to normalcy.

This story is meant to show that life can change in a mere moment, and what can happen in that moment. "Say Something," a one shot that I've posted, gives you another angle of what could have happened to this story, if something else happened.

So, no, I didn't choose a gender for their child. If it is that important, you can choose for yourself! That's the beauty of how I have written this, you get to choose if it's a boy or a girl. But, it's not important. What is important, is that everything is back to normal for them, and they are happy.

I hope that you enjoyed the story, and continue to read my works. Please let me know what you think. Love! Aria


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